Abstract
The enormous influence of modern science and technology on our abilities to work effectively, to communicate, to travel, to perform ordinary household duties, to investigate the depths of outer space as well as the mysteries of the foundations of matter and of life itself, is accompanied by a concomitant growing interest in the role of science on the human condition. For large segments of the world’s population, scientific research, the systematic investigation of reality to advance knowledge, is regarded as having a privileged access to truth—to knowledge of the physical world and its inhabitants as well as of the universe. Indirectly, science also exerts a powerful influence on our fundamental perspectives on the purpose and quality of life. Therefore, reflection, in particular by scientists and students of the natural sciences, on the aims, powers and limitations of science and research is vital for the well-functioning of societies and of all of us.
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Notes
- 1.
What is shared by most definitions of the term metaphysical is its reference to the principles and fundamental nature of reality which transcend any particular field of science. Etymologically, the word derives from the Greek words “metá” (beyond or after) and “physiká” (physics) and refers to Aristotle’s writings on matter that followed after his writings on “physics”. Today “metaphysics” is understood as generalizations that characterize the fundamental nature of physical reality, being and truth—of ultimate reality.
- 2.
Crowe (1997) challenges both the popular conception that deduction is the sole method of mathematics (pp. 260–1) and that the methodology of mathematics is radically different from that of natural science (pp. 271–3).
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Pruzan, P. (2016). Introduction. In: Research Methodology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27167-5_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27167-5_1
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