Science and its uncertainity

Science

What is science for me:- Science to me is coming up with new ideas and innovations to discover something that is yet to be discovered. Science gives us reasons for what and why things exists. The aim for science is to reveal what is visible to us so we can know in depth on what is around us. Curious people could be scientists. Science can never be certain. Discovering things by experiments but concluding what the experiment teaches us is never certain as it keeps changing the more experiments that are carried out over the span of time. This case study helped me develop my understand that science is a risky business as said in the case study 'Not only do you have to start your work by assuming the existence of wrongness, you must count on a very high probability their accomplishments,they tend to brag all over time, to anyone willing to listen.'

Science always raises a question for me 'does that mean what we know is never certain to be right and if we do know that why do we believe in what science teaches us even after knowing that science can never be certain. For example science told us that Earth is round but is it actually true because at first it was flat and we believed it. Today we believe earth is round. But is it still true? How can we rely on what is uncertain

Indigenous Beliefs of Africans

Human Spirits: Most African religions firmly believe that people continue to live, through their spirits, after death. These spirits are often referred to as ancestral spirits. It is believed that spirits of the ancestors remain very interested in what happens in their families and communities. Most African religions divide ancestral spirits into two groups:

• The Recent Dead Ancestors: After an elder dies her or his spirit remains actively interested and engaged in the life of their family and community for many years. The ancestral spirits are most concerned about the prosperity and security of their families and communities. They intercede with God on the behalf of their communities.
• The Spirits of the Long Dead: As time passes, the spirits of the recently dead gradually withdraw from the lives of their descendents and communities. It is believed that these spirits live with God. However, some ancestral spirits remain actively engaged for many generations. This is particularly true of the spirits of important individuals. For example, it is believed that the spirits of great rulers or founders of nations maintain their interest and power for a long time, perhaps centuries after their deaths. These ancestors are most interested in promoting the longevity of their kingdoms, nations, and communities.  

 Thus this gives me an understanding that after a person dies his/her spirit stays for their family and community for many years and are interested in what is happening and they give their lives for the community and descendants thus showing how important the family and community is to them and how people and spirits keep engaged.

 

Is history a science?

Could history be a science?

To me, i personally feel no history is not a science. This is because:-

When scientists conduct their research, they are governed by laws of the scientific method. Progress in science rests on systematic testing, observation, and measurement of phenomena, normally requiring that results can be repeated if experiments are carried out with the same conditions. This allows new knowledge to be integrated into scientific scholarship once the validity of testing has been accepted.

Historians, by contrast, are always, dealing with information that is incomplete. Indeed, we lose more of the raw material we need to understand the past the further away we get from it. When we talk about new research on the past, very frequently what we mean is a reinterpretation of the materials that formed the evidentiary basis of older monographs. 

 There isn’t such a thing as “the historical method.” The reason that popular histories don’t necessarily keep tracking developments in scholarship the way popular sciences do, is simple. History is not science!