Difference Between Science and Philosophy
The difference between science and philosophy is that science studies reality in a methodical way, while philosophy reflects on it through reasoning and logic.
Therefore, each one has a different objective. On the one hand, science wants to explain what surrounds us, and it does so through its knowledge. For its part, philosophy knows what reality is like, but is concerned with thinking about it.
Difference between science and philosophy: origin
Philosophy has its origin in the 6th and 7th centuries BC. C. and, as many know, it was developed in Ancient Greece. Therefore, it could have more than 2,500 years of life and that is a long time. Also, everyone knows great philosophers, like Plato or Socrates.
Regarding science, modern science as we know it today, had its origin in the 17th century and its age is about 400 years. This makes her younger and therefore less mature. For this reason, philosophical principles can be of use to you.
Difference between science and philosophy: one by one
Let's take a closer look at some of the differences between the two. It must be taken into account that science is understood as a general concept and we do not focus on any one in particular.
- Science drinks from philosophy, but not the other way around. Thus, science is based on the teachings of the great philosophers of humanity.
- Science uses the scientific method , philosophy does not. Therefore, the first is carried out in a series of more or less similar phases in which hypotheses are raised and these are answered. The second is based above all on logical reflection .
- Science is concrete, philosophy is abstract. In this way, science studies real phenomena from a theoretical or applied perspective. Philosophy focuses on concepts, images, thoughts or reasoning.
- Philosophy is objective and science subjective. Thus, philosophy is common to all areas of life. However, there are many sciences and although they have similarities, there are also differences between them.
- Finally, science accesses knowledge through specific questions about it. Philosophy, on the contrary, seeks to answer general questions.
Example of application of philosophy to science
Let's see, as on other occasions, some examples of applications of philosophy or science to see their differences.
- Let's look at the case of mathematics . It is one of the so-called basic sciences and, as we know, its main objective is to abstract. This science uses, among others, the logical reasoning that philosophy has studied for a long time. As we can see, the relationship is clear.
- In the case of medicine, it may seem that the relationship is less clear, but nothing is further from the truth. Medical ethics is supported by clear philosophical principles. Be careful, we are not talking about something concrete, but about abstractions related to said ethics.
- Finally, we cannot forget about the Economy . The fathers of this social science used to have deep knowledge of philosophy. We have clear examples in Adam Smith , Karl Marx or Friedrich Hayek , among others.
We can verify, therefore, that although there is a difference between science and philosophy, both can help each other and in many ways.
