A Project Exploring How Different the Various Sciences Are, and Why

A Project Exploring How Different the Various Sciences Are, and Why

Since the time of Newton's great accomplishments, there has been reflection and discussion of the proper methods of science, a discussion that broadened in the 19th century as modern biology began to take shape, and the behavioral and social sciences claimed themselves part of the picture. For many years the strongest and most respected voices argued for the unity of science and the scientific method, with physics as the model. In recent years, however, a growing number of philosophers and historians of science, and social scientists studying science, have pointed to the diversity of the sciences, not only between the natural and the social sciences, but among the natural sciences, and argued that a physics-like model of what the sciences are does not recognize this diversity.

A new project led by Richard Nelson (SIPA/Business/Law) is focused on describing and analyzing these differences. The study is focused particularly on the extent to which the phenomena studied by a science are described quantitatively, and theory expressed mathematically, two characteristics widely held out as norms of good science. A preliminary finding is that in most fields of science these norms are met to only a limited degree. One central question being explored is the relationship between the subject matter of a science and the extent to which that subject matter can be characterized quantitatively, and theory expressed mathematically. A second question is the costs and benefits to a field of science of trying to be physics-like.

Researchers interested in these kinds of questions are encouraged to contact Professor Nelson at rrn2@columbia.edu.