SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
STS | 1ST SEMESTER | A.Y. 2024 - 2025
SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY, TECHNOLOGY, AND
IMPACT ON SOCIETY
MILESTONES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF
SCIENCE
Thales of Miletus
● 624-546 BC
● Miletus = Place in Greece
● A Milesian philosopher renowned for his
idea that the essence of matter is called
"water".
● Material Monism: All matter is composed of
one material.
● Aristotle regards him as the first philosopher
In the Greek tradition.
● Also "flat earther".
● One of the philosopher to study of
Cosmology.
Phytagoras
● 571-491 BC
● A
well-known
mathematician
who
demanded that truth should not be accepted
but proved.
● He believed that everything in the universe
can be explained in "numbers".
● Legends say that he believed that eating
beans is sinful and he drowned a student for
revealing the existence of irrational
numbers to the world.
Aristotle
● 384-322 BC
● Considered the founder of both science and
philosophy of science. He wrote extensively
about the topics we now call physics,
astronomy, psychology, biology, and
chemistry, as well as logic, mathematics,
and epistemology.
● A philosopher with vast contribution in the
different disciplines of science who first
articulated the concept of induction and
deduction.
○ Induction: Specific -> General
○ Deduction: General -> Specific
Ptolemy
● Claudius Ptolemaeus
● AD 127-145, Alexandria
● Ancient astronomer, geographer, and
mathematician.
● He believed that Earth is the center of the
universe in the concept known as
Geocentrism or Geocentric Model.
○ Geocentrism:
All
the
planets,
including the sun, revolves around
the earth.
MODERN PERIOD OF SCIENCE
Francis Bacon
● 1561-1626
● He is known for his idea that scientific
knowledge is obtained after observation
then utilizing inductive reasoning to
interpret the observation.
Ptolemy
● He believed that Earth is the center of the
universe in the concept known as
Geocentrism or Geocentric Model.
Rene Descartes
• 1596-1650
• He has been credited as the "Father of
Modern Philosophy".
• He is known but the saying "cogito, ergo
sum" or "I think, therefore I am" and
believes that science Is based on
mathematics.
• Cartesian Plane
Karl Raimund Popper
• 1902-1994
• A very significant philosophical twist in the
scientific method was championed by him.
• An Austrian-British professor at the London
School of Economics. He rejected the
classical inductivist views on the scientific
method, in favour of empirical falsification
–view that a theory in the empirical sciences
can never be proven, but it can be falsified.
Realism or logical empiricism, modified
with the views of Popper, probably is the
“most received view” of Western science in
the modern period.
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SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
STS | 1ST SEMESTER | A.Y. 2024 - 2025
William Overton
• He laid the rules for a statement to be
classified as scientific;
o It must be guided but natural law.
o It must be explanatory by reference
to natural law.
o It is testable against the empirical
world.
o Its conclusions are tentative.
o It is falsifiable.
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SCIENTIFIC METHOD
Observation
Hypothesis
Experimentation
Results
Conclusion
Share
THEORY OF LAW
Theory
A well substantiated
statement
that
DESCRIBES a natural
phenomenon.
Law
A well substantiated
statement
that
EXPLAINS a natural
phenomenon.
Similarities
1. Both are based on tested hypotheses.
2. Both are supported by a large body of
empirical data.
3. Both are widely accepted by the vast
majority (if not all) scientists within a
discipline.
4. Both are falsifiable.
Example 1:
Observe - A student scores poorly on a math test.
Hypothesis - The student didn’t study enough.
Experimentation - The student studies for two
hours every day for the next test.
Analysis of Results - The student’s score improves
significantly on the next test.
Conclusion - Increased study time leads to better
test scores.
Share - Share this study strategy with classmates.
Example 2:
Observe - The bread is not rising while baking.
Hypothesis - The yeast might be expired.
Experimentation - Use fresh yeast and bake another
loaf.
Analysis of Results - The new loaf rises properly and
turns out well.
Conclusion - Expired yeast prevents bread from
rising.
Share - Advise other bakers to check the expiration
date on their yeast.
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