Formal science
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Formal scienceis abranch of sciencestudying disciplines concerned with abstract structures described byformal systems,such aslogic,mathematics,statistics,theoretical computer science,artificial intelligence,information theory,game theory,systems theory,decision theoryandtheoretical linguistics.Whereas thenatural sciencesandsocial sciencesseek to characterizephysical systemsandsocial systems,respectively, usingempiricalmethods, the formal sciences use languagetoolsconcerned with characterizing abstract structures described byformal systems.The formal sciences aid the natural and social sciences by providing information about the structures used to describe the physical world, and what inferences may be made about them.[citation needed]
Branches
[edit]- Logic(also a branch ofphilosophy)
- Mathematics
- Statistics
- Systems science
- Data science
- Information science
- Computer science
- Cryptography
Differences from other sciences
[edit]One reason why mathematics enjoys special esteem, above all other sciences, is that its laws are absolutely certain and indisputable, while those of other sciences are to some extent debatable and in constant danger of being overthrown by newly discovered facts.
Because of their non-empirical nature, formal sciences are construed by outlining a set ofaxiomsanddefinitionsfrom which other statements (theorems) are deduced. For this reason, inRudolf Carnap'slogical-positivistconception of theepistemology of science,theories belonging to formal sciences are understood to contain nosynthetic statements,instead containing onlyanalytic statements.[2][3]
See also
[edit]- Philosophy
- Science
- Rationalism
- Abstract structure
- Abstraction in mathematics
- Abstraction in computer science
- Cognitive science
- Formalism (philosophy of mathematics)
- Formal grammar
- Formal language
- Formal method
- Formal system
- Form and content
- Mathematical model
- Mathematical sciences
- Mathematics Subject Classification
- Semiotics
- Theory of forms
References
[edit]- ^Albert Einstein(1923). "Geometry and Experience".Sidelights on relativity.Courier Dover Publications. p. 27.Reprinted by Dover (2010),ISBN978-0-486-24511-9.
- ^Carnap, Rudolf(1938). "Logical Foundations of the Unity of Science".International Encyclopaedia of Unified Science.Vol. I. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- ^ Thompson, Bill (2007), "2.4 Formal Science and Applied Mathematics",The Nature of Statistical Evidence,Lecture Notes in Statistics, vol. 189 (1st ed.), Springer, p. 15
Further reading
[edit]- Mario Bunge(1985).Philosophy of Science and Technology.Springer.
- Mario Bunge (1998).Philosophy of Science.Rev. ed. of:Scientific research.Berlin, New York: Springer-Verlag, 1967.
- C. West Churchman(1940).Elements of Logic and Formal Science,J.B. Lippincott Co., New York.
- James Franklin(1994).The formal sciences discover the philosophers' stone.In:Studies in History and Philosophy of Science.Vol. 25, No. 4, pp. 513–533, 1994
- Stephen Leacock (1906).Elements of Political Science.Houghton, Mifflin Co, 417 pp.
- Popper, Karl R.(2002) [1959].The Logic of Scientific Discovery.New York, NY: Routledge Classics.ISBN0-415-27844-9.OCLC59377149.
- Bernt P. Stigum (1990).Toward a Formal Science of Economics.MIT Press
- Marcus Tomalin (2006),Linguistics and the Formal Sciences.Cambridge University Press
- William L. Twining (1997).Law in Context: Enlarging a Discipline.365 pp.
External links
[edit]
Media related toFormal sciencesat Wikimedia Commons- Interdisciplinary conferences —Foundations of the Formal Sciences
