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> Descriptive science The whole point of science is for it to be predictive though. Calling "descriptive science" (whatever that is) a science is sort of... wr
by demonshalo 9y ago
> Descriptive science
The whole point of science is for it to be predictive though. Calling "descriptive science" (whatever that is) a science is sort of... wrong!
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- ldp01 9y agoThe point of mathematical models is to be predictive. But I wouldn't call prediction "the whole point of science". That's reducing science to a means-to-an-end. I think science is more commonly understood to be about discovery and exploration? Although it is commonly applied and turned into engineering, expansion of knowledge is still an end in itself.
- xapata 9y agoEver heard about Darwin's "Voyage of the Beagle"? The purpose was to collect specimens and chart coasts -- purely descriptive. Even the idea of predictive natural science was a little awkward in the face of the religious concept that God created the world as-is/will-be.