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EvC Forum ⇒ Science Forums ⇒ Is It Science? ⇒ Does science ask and answer "why" questions? ⇒

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Author Topic:   Does science ask and answer "why" questions?
Dr Jack
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Posts: 3514
From: Immigrant in the land of Deutsch
Joined: 07-14-2003
Member Rating: 8.4

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Message 8 of 353 (646956)
01-07-2012 1:20 PM 		Reply to: Message 1 by bluegenes
01-07-2012 10:59 AM

Of course science answers why questions: it's breathtakingly good at answering why questions.
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"Why is the sky blue?"
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"Why do birds fly south in winter?"
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"Why are planets round?"
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Answering why questions is the absolute beating heart of science.
​
Edited by Mr Jack, : Not sure why I capitalised 'science' there?
This message is a reply to:
 Message 1 by bluegenes, posted 01-07-2012 10:59 AM bluegenes has replied
Replies to this message:
 Message 12 by bluegenes, posted 01-07-2012 1:38 PM Dr Jack has not replied
 Message 14 by Panda, posted 01-07-2012 5:55 PM Dr Jack has not replied
 Message 16 by kbertsche, posted 01-07-2012 6:58 PM Dr Jack has not replied
  
Dr Jack
Member
Posts: 3514
From: Immigrant in the land of Deutsch
Joined: 07-14-2003
Member Rating: 8.4

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(2)
Message 209 of 353 (647898)
01-11-2012 6:07 PM

To summarise
Science can answer why questions unless:
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a) You have a silly notion of reality (dualism) or
b) You have a silly definition of why (purpose only)
​
Have I missed anything?
​
Edited by Mr Jack, : No reason given.
  
Dr Jack
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Posts: 3514
From: Immigrant in the land of Deutsch
Joined: 07-14-2003
Member Rating: 8.4

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Message 353 of 353 (651373)
02-06-2012 6:07 PM

I repeat
I summarised this thread back in message 209, I don't think anything of substance has been posted since then that needs me to expand, so I'll simply repeat:
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Science can answer why questions unless:
​
a) You have a silly notion of reality (dualism) or
b) You have a silly definition of why (purpose only)
​
Actually, I will change something, my last message finished "have I missed anything?" but since the collected posts of the silly side haven't managed to scrape together anything that would challenge either point I don't think it's necessary any more.
  
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