Does Science Give Us the Truth?

Marc Ivan Tiu

ID#11212942

Does Science Give us the Truth?

        For years, the debate between religious people, philosophers and scientists on whether science does really give out the truth has already been ongoing but before we dwell on this matter and take sides, we must first know the meaning of both science and truth. The definition that we will derive for this paper will be purely based on the accepted meaning during this generation and by no means of relation to religious terms as to avoid any biases. “Truth” along with “science” has many different faces of definition from different individuals, the meaning of these words usually patterns out with the one speaking thus it is hard to distinguish the true definition as the meaning changes depending on the perspectives which it comes from whether they are philosophers, students, bankers, teachers, scientists, religious people or even the ordinary citizen.

“Truth” simply means the state of being true or the belief which is in line with reality and fact. “Science” on the other hand is a systemized body of knowledge and a process of research and discovery for answers to the mysteries in this natural world. We can therefore derive from the definition that science is an ongoing process that changes over time. The word science itself comes from a Latin word called “scientia” which simply means to know or knowledge thus with the root word alone, we can effectively say that science is all about seeking proofs to add to the body of knowledge. In reality there is a lot of different perspective and meaning for both science and truth but in this paper, we would only define them by the definition stated above.

Theories in general that work and are accepted today are often overturned and replaced by better working theories in the future. For example, during the classical ages – people believed that earth was flat and during the ancient times, people believed that the heart was the center of thought and that the brain cooled the body. People might find this funny today but during those times, it was the best knowledge that science could offer thus we can say that science seeks out answers but doesn’t give us the exact truth. It is best remembered that science is based on the limitations of its age for the body of knowledge is so vast and constantly changes whenever there is a better or newer alternative than before. Truly, science has come a long way ever since the ancient times; it has truly benefited the society through the modernization of our daily activities and the advancement in technology, engineering and medicine. It has ease up a lot of work, efficiently sped up many processes and improved so many aspects. But in regards to the question “Does science give us the truth?” My answer is still definitely a no since science seeks out the truth but it can only give us studies, theories or data that is best available during that period.