What is science

What is science?

In common usage the word science is applied to a variety of disciplines or intellectual activities which have certain features in common. Usually a science is characterized by the possibility of making precise statements which are susceptible of some sort of check or proof. This often implies that the situations with which the special science is concerned can be made to recur in order to submit themselves to check, although this is by no means always the case. There are observational sciences such as astronomy or geology in which repetition of a situation at will is intrinsically impossible, and the possible precision is limited to precision of description.

A common method of classifying sciences is to refer to them as either exact sciences or descriptive sciences. Examples of the former are physics and, to a lesser degree, chemistry; and of the latter, taxonomic botany or zoology. The exact sciences are in general characterized by the possibility of exact measurement. One of the most important tasks of a descriptive science is to develop a method of description or classification that will permit precision of reference to the subject matter.