The Natural Sciences — Scope and Methods

The natural sciences, including physics, chemistry, and biology, are among the most powerful and trusted knowledge systems humans have built. This unit examines the natural sciences and mathematics, two AOKs often held up as models of reliable knowledge. We begin with the scope of the natural sciences and how they build knowledge.

The scope of the natural sciences

The scope of the natural sciences is the physical and biological world: matter, energy, living things, and the regularities that govern them. Science seeks general explanations and predictions through testable claims, and it deliberately restricts itself to questions that observation and experiment can address. This restriction is a source of strength. By excluding questions of value, meaning, and beauty, the natural sciences gai