History of Science (ePub)

History of science, since time immemorial, has embraced clearly
defined interdisciplinary methods and perspectives, and other
fields of human endeavor are beginning to buy into the pace
set by sciences. Understanding science has become a more
complex issue of discussion due to the numerous fields of
study it embodies. In times past, the idea of science was
confined to limited areas, like natural sciences, sociology,
theology, philosophy and history. However, other fields like
literary & cultural studies, political science, ethnology, and
anthropology were added to the long list towards the twilights
of the twentieth century. Such additions have successfully
transformed science into an object of rigorous and engaging
scholarly investigation.
The additions mentioned earlier, contributing their quotas to the
dictates of science, have blurred its erstwhile defined boundaries,
cutting off the distinction between what can be termed as
historical and what is not in the definition of the field of
sciences as a human activity.
In time past, some schools of thought held firmly to their
impressionistic and subjective points of view regarding history,
emphasizing that science is incapable of being made an
embodiment of personal vision branch of literature or that if a
nation, church or class that history represents. Be that as it
may, science cannot be declared as laying claim to eternal and
universal objectivity; rather, it prefers to be assessed as a point
of view of the past giving and means of meeting the demands
of the present day and the future. This factor justifies history
as an integral part of scientific study.
Many insist at the aberration birthed with the inclusion of
history as a science field, claiming its inclination towards the
arts is more viable than its science-relationship. They maintained
that history and all other 'aberrant' inclusions are visualized as
fields with their purposes and structures widely differing from
the dictates of the science field.
Nevertheless, the leading logicians, decisions makers and opinion
leaders of the day do not get weighed down by the validity, or
lack of it, of any of the fields, merged with science and for
logical reasons too. These opinion leaders have their minds set
rather on other science fields, like the natural sciences, involving
the likes of physics and mathematics, which very few of them
fully understand. Consequently, other related added fields, like
the various human studies fields, especially history, are
completely neglected. Ironically, many of them have more
familiarity with the neglected fields than the fields they presently
embrace.
History is based on facts. It deals with identifying, discovering
and inferring, which are all traceable characteristics to the field
of natural sciences. Since the specialists counter one another on
the purported identity or place of history in the field of science,
it behooves the recognized science authorities to proffer lasting
and viable clarification on the identity saga. Just the same, the
undeniable truth records history as the only region of human
knowledge and experience where progress has been undeniably
achieved.