What Kinds of Questions can Science Answer

Essay by CamelsmokerCollege, UndergraduateA, June 2005

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Between the many sciences we can find the answers to many questions. The who, what, where, when, and why can all be answered by science if the question is of a scientific nature. Science can't tell me whether I should buy eggs or Spam when I go to the grocery store, but it can tell me what Spam is made of (or can it). Nevertheless, there is no limit to the answers science can bring, only the question we can ask of it.

Who, what, where, when, and why, being types of questions can all be answered by science if in scientific context. Through modern day forensics, every day science is used to solve murders by finding the answer to these types of questions. DNA evidence can show who the victim or the assailant was, microscopic particles can be found that tell what the weapon was, traces of elements or radiation can show where the murder took place.

Carbon dating can tell when an object thousands of years old was used, and and psychology can be used to determine why a criminal would commit a crime. Even in the case of Spam, you can use science to detect the chemical makeup of the faux meat.

Science cannot answer all things, questions of opinion, or emotion, or of a philosophical nature are out of the scope of sciences question answering ability. Science can't tell you whether I like steak or chiken more, it can't tell me what someone's favourite movie is, or why a student would choose one school over another. It can't tell you why a dog loves his master, or how you should show love for you parents or children. Acording to many philosophers, science can't answer anything, because we have no way of knowing that anything is true...