TOK Essay
Science: Facts or Something More?
Henri Poincaré once said, “Science is built of facts the way a house is built of bricks: but an accumulation of facts is no more science than a pile of bricks is a house.” What does Poincaré mean by his quote that formulates questions in our inquisitive minds that have never thoroughly explained before? The first part of the quote states an idea that most people have thought of before or at least know about it. Science is built of facts that are accumulated over time to provide a rational thought process about ideas, theories and the like. A house is built of bricks, which may not be your house certainly, but what Poincaré is trying to get at is to say a brick house is made of bricks or that a wood house is made of wood. The second half of Poincaré’s quote is more puzzling. If I have facts or just bricks does that mean that I have scientific evidence or a house? Both the science and the house are made up of various components that define its existence. A house is not simply built of whatever the main component is, but of other various ingredients such as plumbing, a roof, wall beams and other elements that help define what a house is. The same holds true for science. So perhaps what Henri Poincaré said holds true, however, it could change depending on which areas of knowledge you or I study in.
The obvious first choice of knowledge would be science since Poincaré states it in his quote. Is science just an accumulation of facts or is science something more than just facts that are piled up one after another? Just because I know facts about chemistry or astrophysics does not necessarily categorize it as science. For something to be science, the facts must be there in order to provide evidence, but an idea must be formed from these facts. It is clearly evident in the first step of the scientific method, formulating a hypothesis. Facts must come together to form a question about an idea you have and then experimentation will come, along with observations and conclusions. When I was younger, I once thought science was an accumulation of facts. I knew all this information on Paleontology, the study of pre-historic organisms. I could spout information on the Jurassic period or the Cretaceous period, but I know now that it was not necessarily science but just facts I accumulated over time for my love of science. Just because you or I know facts about science does not mean it is science in its essence. Science to me is a system of knowledge that must be categorized and follow the scientific method to formulate theories. The accumulation of facts is part of a knowledge system, but it must be carefully organized and thought of rationally and reasonably in order to begin calling it science. Why is science this way exactly? To me science is exactly as I have stated. An accumulation of facts is not science the same way a pile of bricks is not a house and the same way an abundance of sand is not glass. There is more than meets the eye in science. Reason and rational thought must be used to find the relationship between the facts and an idea or the area of science you are studying. If I were to state that the atom Hydrogen has one proton and electron and is a diatomic atom, that does not necessarily mean it is chemistry. If I were to say that Hydrogen in Hydrochloric acid is necessary because the Hydrogen ion atom is needed to make it a strong acid then I could say it is chemistry. Both are facts, but the latter provides why it is part of chemistry by explaining what the fact is and does. Some say that science is an accumulation of facts though because they believe that is what science is about. When people think of science they think of facts such as “The world is 4.5 billion years old” or “Dark energy is most of the mass of the universe.” Science to these people are facts and nothing more. They argue that if you make a discovery in science you introduced a new fact and thus facts are science. Both sides of the argument provide compelling information for the side they represent; however, I believe that science is not an accumulation of facts.
