Science is Never Certain

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'Complete certainty,' what exactly does that mean? It seems to imply that we are able to know something without doubtfulness. In fact, it seems to be saying that it is a justified true belief. But what makes a 'complete certainty' 'complete' and 'certain.' To understand this we must first understand and grasp what the two areas of knowledge of mathematics and the natural sciences say they accomplish this goal. We must first understand what makes something a complete certainty to the scientists and mathematicians that study in these subjects and how the people, who believe in their findings, accept these 'complete certainties.'

Mathematics and the natural sciences are both hard sciences that are consistently backed up by evidence and proof. Because of this, these two areas of knowledge are usually picked as the best in terms of gaining absolute certainty. Both are supported and backed by numbers and this makes the two more precise, which makes it a lot more accepted and understandable than ethics and religions. Numbers give the ability of universal language between people and allows everyone to understand each other without the barriers of misconceptions. In pertaining to the four ways of knowing, let us see how mathematics achieves 'complete certainty' and the extent to which it falters.

Mathematicians believe that since math is a very concrete and hard science, it is pretty much infallible. Through reason, math can consistently prove itself with numbers and evidence of working algorithms and equations that will always have the same answers as long as the laws of math are followed. Though, some math concepts are theoretical, most are laws that cannot be disproven. For example, the laws of addition, subtraction, multiplicat...

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...e this hard science of nutrition, one of uncertainty, and not 'complete certainty.'

Unclearnesses in natural sciences like this and even in math affects certainty in many sciences. Many scientists use math that can be accurate but uncertain, and this can further prevent them from reaching 'complete certainty.' Relations between areas of knowledge in broad make it hard to state whether 'complete certainty' is even remotely possible in natural sciences and in mathematics. “As the physicist Richard Feynman once said: 'Science is a long history of learning how not to fool ourselves.'” It is this very quote into why the natural sciences and mathematics have had a great success into finding 'complete certainties.' That limit on their extent however, can only become less and less as we advance in technologies and realize where we can improve on our errors and fallacies.

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