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Ever hear of Political Science? My wife majored in it, and she used to always talks about her statistics course; doesn't know a lick of stats though.

eru 17y ago
"The misnaming of fields of study is so common as to lead to what might be general systems laws. For example, Frank Harary once suggested the law that any field that had the word "science" in its name was guaranteed thereby not to be a science. He would cite as examples Military Science, Library Science, Political Science, Homemaking Science, Social Science, and Computer Science. Discuss the generality of this law, and possible reasons for its predictive power." (Gerald Weinberg, "An Introduction to General Systems Thinking") [Actually it's from the fortune program.]
- Locke1689 17y ago
  Eh, I at least understand getting a BS in computer science degree if it's in the engineering school. As an engineer I'm required to take a very math and science heavy course load and all the various engineering core curricula. In addition, I can see computer science as being categorized as science for historical reasons, but if it's not science it is at least applied mathematics. Given that applied math is an engineering degree, I see no reason why computer science shouldn't be. In contrast, not only does political science have nothing to do with science, but the course requirements aren't even science related. Maybe, if you're lucky, you'll take one basics statistics course. However, I have yet to see a polisci course that requires differential equations.
  - eru 17y ago
    Yes. I just posted the fortune cookie because it's funny. In German we talk about natural sciences (Naturwissenschaften) and mind sciences (Geisteswissenschaften). I guess it's just in English that sciencies implies natural sciences. Interestingly, while using math is in practice the hallmark of a proper science, in theory the experiment as final arbiter separates the sciences from the rest. So math, with no experiments to rely on, is not considered a proper science.
    - Locke1689 17y ago
      You're not gonna believe this but I was going to say the same thing. I speak German and was going to mention Naturwissenschaften/Geisteswissenschaften but I figured no one else on HN spoke German so it wouldn't be that helpful :) BTW I wasn't using math as an example of why computer science is a science, but rather why it can be justified that computer science gets placed in the school of engineering and one earns a B.S.
Perceval 17y ago
As a graduate of the Georgetown School of Foreign Service, I feel it's my duty to point out that the major difference between the core requirements of the SFS and the College of Arts & Sciences is that you have no math or science core requirement in the SFS. I think you end up having econ take the place of math & science in the SFS's core requirements, but the basic econ courses (micro, macro, int'l trade, int'l finance) do not require anything more than knowledge of algebra. So yes, it is quite possible to get a political science degree and not know a single thing about math or science beyond your high school education.

eru 17y ago

"The misnaming of fields of study is so common as to lead to what might be general systems laws. For example, Frank Harary once suggested the law that any field that had the word "science" in its name was guaranteed thereby not to be a science. He would cite as examples Military Science, Library Science, Political Science, Homemaking Science, Social Science, and Computer Science. Discuss the generality of this law, and possible reasons for its predictive power." (Gerald Weinberg, "An Introduction to General Systems Thinking") [Actually it's from the fortune program.]

Locke1689 17y ago
Eh, I at least understand getting a BS in computer science degree if it's in the engineering school. As an engineer I'm required to take a very math and science heavy course load and all the various engineering core curricula. In addition, I can see computer science as being categorized as science for historical reasons, but if it's not science it is at least applied mathematics. Given that applied math is an engineering degree, I see no reason why computer science shouldn't be. In contrast, not only does political science have nothing to do with science, but the course requirements aren't even science related. Maybe, if you're lucky, you'll take one basics statistics course. However, I have yet to see a polisci course that requires differential equations.
- eru 17y ago
  Yes. I just posted the fortune cookie because it's funny. In German we talk about natural sciences (Naturwissenschaften) and mind sciences (Geisteswissenschaften). I guess it's just in English that sciencies implies natural sciences. Interestingly, while using math is in practice the hallmark of a proper science, in theory the experiment as final arbiter separates the sciences from the rest. So math, with no experiments to rely on, is not considered a proper science.
  - Locke1689 17y ago
    You're not gonna believe this but I was going to say the same thing. I speak German and was going to mention Naturwissenschaften/Geisteswissenschaften but I figured no one else on HN spoke German so it wouldn't be that helpful :) BTW I wasn't using math as an example of why computer science is a science, but rather why it can be justified that computer science gets placed in the school of engineering and one earns a B.S.

Perceval 17y ago

As a graduate of the Georgetown School of Foreign Service, I feel it's my duty to point out that the major difference between the core requirements of the SFS and the College of Arts & Sciences is that you have no math or science core requirement in the SFS. I think you end up having econ take the place of math & science in the SFS's core requirements, but the basic econ courses (micro, macro, int'l trade, int'l finance) do not require anything more than knowledge of algebra. So yes, it is quite possible to get a political science degree and not know a single thing about math or science beyond your high school education.