Horoscopes

1
Horoscopes!!!

• Are they true?
• Is there scientific evidence that these things
  are true?
• Scientific findings must be replicable/repeatable
  
• If someone goes into the woods and sees a vision,
  is that vision scientific?

2
Palmist

• When a palmist reads someones palm and makes an
  accurate prediction, can that prediction be due
  to chance or to a lucky guess?

3
There is NO Scientific Evidence!

• This is called
• PSEUDO SCIENCE
• Witching, Palmistry, UFOs, Lucky Numbers
• So What is Science???

4

• Science is easy to define, but hard to
  understand.
• Why is science hard to understand? Because
  science is really a philosophy about truth and
  knowledge or a way of knowing.
• How do we know? Is science the only way?

5
Ways of Knowing

• Authority
• Because an important person said it!
• Religion
• In this sense truth or knowledge is written
  down in a document.
• Thus, we have many different truths in religion.

6
Ways of Knowing Cont

• Tenacity
• This is truth that has been told over and over.
• Astrology
• Conventional Wisdom
• Boys are better in math and science
• Woolly bear caterpillars tell winter weather
• Technology will solve all environmental problems

7
Science as a Way of Knowing

• Science revolves around observation.
• Sensory reality
• Empiricism (True Science)
• Observations or Experimentation
• Example Entomologist (studies insects)
• Finds a beetle
• Has she produced scientific truth?

8
Definition of Science

• Science is only the search for truth/evidence/know
  ledge.
• Scientists are the vehicle for gaining
  truth/evidence/knowledge.
• Society makes the decision what to do with that
  knowledge.
• Alfred Noble (dynamite inventor)

9
The Promise of Science

• Science holds great promise for mankind.
• But remember, the promise of science is not in
  the realm of science.
• The promise lies strictly in the ways human
  beings decide to use the information science
  produces.

10
Definitions of Science

• Science is the process in which verifiable
  information is gained through empirical methods.
• Science is information provided by the processes
  involved in logically arranged investigations.
• Science is a combination of critical thought
  processes which result in a valid information
  product.