BIOL 4087 Chapter : Chapter 10
Document Summary
Our society is immersed in a scientific revolution, largely in biological nature. Breakthroughs in: genetics: breast cancer gene, cellular biology: cell conversions, neuroscience: light & schizophrenia, environment: cigarette germs & smokers. To understand what science is & is not. Acquisition of knowledge with the goal of explaining natural phenomena. A way to decide what is/is not factual. It is a process that is good at rejecting bad ideas (falsification) Conclusions are tentative (allow new ideas and learning) Biology is the scientific study of life. The belief that some events happen through supernatural forces (greek gods) The belief that all events can be traced to natural causes that we can comprehend (natural causality) Natural laws apply to every time and place. Natural laws are uniform in space & time. Scientific inquiry is based on the assumption that people perceive natural events in similar ways. This principle is key to understanding biological events that occurred before human life.
