Introduction

Abstract

Numerous strange, inconsistent, incorrect, or defaming comments on science have been made and continue to be made by various groups of authors, such as journalists, historians or philosophers of science, and scientists themselves, without definition of what science means. This author understands science as a steady flow of new facts and ideas accompanied by (a few) errors and fallacies, but also including revisions of previous errors and fallacies as the result of an inborn “self-healing mechanism.” The Introduction also explains the purpose of this book, namely a consistent description of scientific research and the role that errors and fallacies play in the progress of science.