Science

All posts tagged Science

As with all communication and logic, explicitly defining our assumptions and definitions is crucial for clarity and understanding.  I will continue with the discussion of science, given the definition that I provided in the last Science-Mindedness post: science is a repeatable, systematic method of improving our ability to understand and predict phenomena based upon methodological naturalism, logic, and empirical evidence.  To delve deeper into this definition, I will focus on discussing methodological naturalism in this post, as it serves as the fundamental assumption or “rule” in science.

Methodological naturalism is the philosophy that all observations have an explanation to be found within the universe.  By this philosophy, all supernatural and paranormal explanations are invalid.  Methodological naturalism is a fundamental assumption of science.  Strict adherence to methodological naturalism is not an arbitrary decision for scientists, but rather a crucial starting point established through generations of trial and error.

The efficacy of science is strongly tied to the philosophy of methodological naturalism.  Historically, individuals who attempted to use magic, alchemy, or other means of searching for understanding in our world garnered equal or greater respect than individuals who relegated themselves to observable, testable explanations for phenomena.  However, as efforts demonstrated, only science withstood the test of time as a means to make progress towards a clearer picture of existence.  By applying the assumption of methodological naturalism, scientists continue devising and exploring explanations for phenomena that other disciplines relegate to supernatural causes (hence halting their search for understanding).  Without this crucial assumption, any line of questioning could be halted with one word: magic.

"Where do babies come from, Mom?" "Magic, honey." Can you imagine what Penn and Teller's parents thought when they first told them they wanted to be magicians?

“Where do babies come from, Mom?” “Magic, honey.” Can you imagine what Penn and Teller’s parents thought when they first told them they wanted to be magicians?

To be clear, methodological naturalism serves as a fundamental driving force for research to continue.  By excluding paranormal or supernatural explanations, scientists have restricted themselves to explanations which can be observed, tested, and repeatedly scrutinized, thereby allowing for scientific knowledge to progress and improve as evidence supports (whether affirmative or negative) conclusions.

As we continue our discussion, I’ll leave you with some questions to discuss and lead us to the next post: Why do we use science?  When do we use science?  Should science be applied in all situations?  Are there questions not addressable by science?  Why do we choose science over other methods of inquiry?

The word, “science,” is not exempt from our discussion of language – it has many definitions and can be confusing to discuss.  Science is commonly defined both as a method of study and a body of knowledge, obtained through the method.  For the sake of the Science-Mindedness discussions, I will use the term, “science,” in a methodological context (rather than as a body of knowledge), for two major reasons: 1) I prefer to use “science” to mean the method and discuss its findings as “scientific findings/evidence/conclusions/information/etc.,” as it makes both concepts (the method and knowledge gained through it) appear less vague, and 2) these discussions are intended to improve science-mindedness and critical thinking, which are necessary for the methods of science but not necessarily to learn the information that science has produced (for example, the scientific study of human anatomy indicates that humans have a four-chambered heart – critical thinking is not required to memorize this piece of information).  For this series, I use science to refer to a repeatable, systematic method of improving our ability to understand and predict phenomena based upon methodological naturalism, logic, and empirical evidence.  Here is a quick breakdown of the terms within the definition:

1) repeatable: For someone to perform science, their methods and results must be possible to duplicate (but they do not have to be duplicated to be scientific).

2) systematic: planned and rigorously adhering to a strategy

3) methodological naturalism: the philosophy that all observations have an explanation to be found within the universe.  By this philosophy, all supernatural and paranormal explanations are invalid.  Methodological naturalism is a fundamental assumption of science.

4) logic: the process of explicitly defining assumptions and generating conclusions which adhere to the constraints of the defined assumptions.

5) empirical evidence: data collected through repeatable observation and/or experimentation.

I’ll continue with more on defining science in the next post.  How does the definition I’ve provided compare with your prior understanding of science?  Do you have a definition (or modifications to the one above) of science that you prefer and would like to discuss using?

I have been away from this blog for a while, exploring new and exciting life avenues.  I’m returning now to create a more useful tool of scientific understanding and hopefully a fun outlet for intellectual discussion for my blog followers.  To start, I have decided to post a regular discussion series, called Science-Mindedness, about scientific understanding to help anyone who is interested (myself included) to develop a better understanding of science and scientific thought, and to answer/ponder scientific questions that you may have.  I hope to encourage the development of rational, logical thought and how to consciously use it.  I would like to hone our skills in identifying logical versus illogical thoughts, provide avenues for finding scientifically-credible resources, and help everyone come to a better understanding of how scientific information is generated.  I will do my best to provide objective, open-minded dialogue, but keep in mind that all people have biases.  That said, biases do not inherently invalidate people’s perspectives, and remember that we (as both a society and as individuals) consider many ideas and people to be credible.  Identifying, acknowledging, and trying to reduce biases is an important part of any scientific discussion, and is an ongoing challenge for any good thinker.  Ideally, we will interact as a community looking to better itself through this blog, where readers post responses and have discussions spawning from post topics.  The public nature and small viewership of this forum may sometimes cause interaction to be small or absent.  Regardless of community input, I’ll press on, hoping to, at the very least, provide an interesting perspective to read.  For the time being, I will strive to post at least one series update per month.  Relevant and constructive questions, comments/discussions, wildlife identification or other requests are always appreciated, and I will address those that are either made on the website itself or sent to cflbiologist”at”gmail.com as often as I can.  Also, if you have blog/science topics you would like to see discussed or would like to write a post yourself, contact me at the above email address or post a comment on the blog.  Look for the first science discussion topic soon!

A photo of one of my many, "mad scientist" faces.

A photo of one of my many, “mad scientist” faces.

We woke up after a great sleep indoors and went to an Italian restaurant for lunch before we milked the Western Diamondback (Crotalus atrox) from last night.

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We spent the afternoon relaxing and planning our strategy for the evening before we headed out. On our way to road cruising we stopped at a Wendy’s in Carlsbad for dinner, where they got all 3 orders wrong on the first try (an impressive feat, but they were very nice and corrected our food without hassle).

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Then we hit the roads, where we quickly found a Texas Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma cornutum) and a baby Yellow Mud Turtle (Kinosternon flavescens). The mud turtle was new to Jason and I, and since you don’t see mud turtles crossing the road often in the desert, were stopped to take some pictures.

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The roads that we choose for the evening looked promising, with lots of great habitat on either side and few cars. The amount of grass and green vegetation has increased dramatically as a result of the unseasonably high rainfall, making the landscape almost unrecognizable from when we first arrived out west.

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A little ways up the road, we started seeing dung beetles rolling cow feces across the road.

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Once we settled on plans for the night, we stated road cruising in two cars (Jason in one, Eric and I in the other). We split up to increase our chance of finding Prairie Rattlesnakes (Crotalus viridis), the last species that we needed to collect from New Mexico. We had struck out for the last several nights of searching for them, so we were hoping that we’d find them with two cars searching. For the first few hours, we didn’t find any snakes, but then Eric and I found a Western Diamondback and Jason found a DOR Checkered Garter Snake (Thamnophis marcianus).

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After several more hours of searching, we turned up two more live diamondbacks, a DOR diamondback, and a Long-nosed Snake (Rhinocheilus lecontei).

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After a long night, we parted ways with Eric and headed back towards Seminole, Texas. On our way we kept our eyes peeled for snakes, but only found a DOR badger and a DOR kangaroo rat.

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Finally, we arrived in Texas (at 4:30am) and got to stay at Jason’s grandmother’s house. Looking forward to sleeping in a bed tonight.

We woke up to a nice, mountain morning after what may be our last night camping for the trip. We hurried to process the DORs from last night since a storm was rolling in.

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Camp in the mountains

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A nice mountain view

The cap on our bleach bottle broke as we went to put it away, so we wrapped it in parafilm and a rubber band, which should hopefully keep it sealed for the rest of the trip.

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Bleach bottle with a somewhat repaired cap

Once we finished our work and the rain stopped (it barely drizzled) we cooked lunch (cous cous, chicken, and corn).

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Cooking lunch - cous cous, chicken, and corn

Then we packed up camp and headed to Artesia to meet with a contact, Eric. We had some tasty burgers and and quesadillas. Then we hit the road for some cruising. We got a DOR Common Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula), three Checkered Garter Snakes (Thamnophis marcianus), and a Western Diamondback (Crotalus atrox).

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DOR Common Kingsnake

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A small Checkered Garter Snake

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Another Checkered Garter Snake

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A Western Diamondback

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Third Checkered Garter Snake

Late in the night we found a Texas Toad (Anaxyrus speciosus), which was a new species for Jason and I. We also passed a Pronghorn Antelope which jumped a fence and took off before I could get a photo.

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Our first Texas Toad

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The same Texas Toad

After a good night of cruising, Eric was nice enough to let us crash at his place, so we got to sleep indoors.