This document discusses the value of science through Richard Feynman's perspective. It explains that science is not morally oriented but can be used for good or bad depending on society. While science gives humanity material goods, it also provides perspective on our place in the universe. The last value discussed is the methodology of science, which relies on testing and reasoning to establish understanding despite constant ignorance and doubt.

1. Value of Science Essay
3/14/2013
Values
Science is undoubtedly a very important part of growing as the human race. It has improved our
lives drastically from the first stone tools, to iPods and cars we drive. But what is it really that
matters when it comes to science? Material things are not the only things that science gives
humanity. Richard Feynman explains his point of view of the values of science, and on how
science is used to create things beneficial and afflicting, how the values behind science are affected
by society, and how science affects people. The very first point brought up ismorality. Science is not
morally oriented to do good or bad and can easily do either. Feynman referenced a Buddhist proverb
he heard while visiting Honolulu, "To...show more content...
For example, recently we had a large hoopla about stem cell research because of the supposed
"farming babies". When in reality, the stem cells were in vitro fertilized eggs from artificially
inseminated parents that would have been thrown away. Those extra fertilized eggs contained cells
that have the capability of creating any cell in the human body, and with the future possibility of
growing replacement/repair body parts of patients; it would have been a huge leap in the medical
field. But because of our own ignorance to the science behind it, we effectively closed the continuum
of scientific progress. Feynman wrote a small poetic section putting into perspective how great and
complicated humans are, but showing how miniscule they are compared to the universe. Also, how
it is a "religious experience" to have you put into perspective through science itself. He says that
artists and singers won't sing about it because not everyone can understand the science, but the
scientists who can explain it.
The last value of science is the methodology behind being a scientist. Feynman explains how all
scientists have lots of experience with "ignorance and doubt" and after time, effort, testing and
further degrees of uncertainty, subjects can still are unsure, with doubt, and uncertainty. Logic, data,
critical thinking and reasoning can only be as important of understanding. The understanding of the
numerous struggles within science has been
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2. Evolution of Science Essay
The idea of a world progressing, or evolving, in science hasn't been around forever. In fact, the
Enlightenment period in the seventeen hundreds with scientists such as Isaac Newton the man who
discovered gravity, Louis Pasteur the chemist who invented the vaccine to prevent rabies, Charles
Darwin the father of evolution, Benjamin Franklin the first scientist to toy with the dangers and
possibilities of electricity, and so many more wonderful scientists was the start of the "progress" that
revolutionized our world. Of the scientists who progressed our world, few shaped modern biology
the way Charles Darwin managed to. Thomas Kuhn saw the progress people like Darwin made not
as truth seeking, but simply as filling in another piece of...show more content...
His "discovery" had already been interpreted one way, all Newton did was reinterpret the observed
gravity in a new way, according to Kuhn. Isaac Newton gave science the observation of gravity that
pulls molecules together, without him, DNA could not be bound to the Universe and molecules
would never bond to one another. Darwin's Big Bang theory relies on the explanation of Gravity
through Isaac Newton. With Newton's science, other scientists made discoveries that built upon his
science to evolve the theoretical thoughts of the universe to Charles Darwin's evolution. Thomas
Kuhn believed that science did not build upon itself, but the systematic, rather than random, ways of
science lead to paradigm shifts when one discovery was found to be incorrect resulting in a new,
rather than expanded old, idea. When a shift occurs, new scientists emerge with open minds and new
ideas older scientists over–look. These new scientists begin new paradigms and the process of
discovery continues until imperfections are found with the current paradigm. Kuhn believed that the
newer scientists did not just build on the older scientists, but spun off in new directions.
Thomas Kuhn believed that Darwin's evolution had undergone shifts. He had many ideas of how
evolution occurred and toyed with many of them. According to Kuhn, changes in beliefs and ideas
after finding one belief did not
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