Template talk:Science

Unfixed vandalism

What happened here, and why isn't it fixed? Which begs the question, what were the original intentions with this template. It looks interesting. -- Fyslee (talk) 04:03, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

Relevance

The contents of this template don't appear to be particularly relevant to some of the topics it's being placed upon (e.g. Relationship between religion and science). I would suggest that 'Science' is to broad a subject to cover with a single template, and that more specifically targeted templates might be appropriate. Hrafn^Talk_Stalk(P) 04:06, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

The template's coverage has since been widened, but seems to be an oddball grab-bag of topics under some rather idiosyncratic headings. May I suggest that, if a general Science template is desired (and I still think specific templates would be a better idea), then it should follow the hierarchy of Portal:Science/Categories and Main topics. Hrafn^Talk_Stalk(P) 10:13, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

I merely copied the table that already existed at the bottom of the Science article. If there's some better organization, then by all means change it. SharkD (talk) 22:35, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

The list of topics that accumulated in Science's 'see-also' section is hardly the basis for a systematic template. Many of the topics are obscure, and the categorisation is idiosyncratic at best. I have reverted their reinclusion. Hrafn^Talk_Stalk(P) 15:24, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

The topics were already "systematicized" to a degree by being being rounded up into a table. While the individual topics may be obscure, I think the categorization should be emulated. SharkD (talk) 15:56, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

"I think the categorization should be emulated." Why? Its categorisation appears to have no basis in any formalised system of categorisation, and gives heavy overemphasis to areas only on the boundary of science.

Mineralogy

I'm wondering if we could add mineralogy to the list of Earth sciences. It is listed as one of the major topics within the Earth science article.--Lorikeet (talk) 06:31, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

• Done. Hrafn^Talk_Stalk(P) 07:51, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

Philosophy

Hello! Is philosophy no science?--Diwas (talk) 18:30, 4 June 2009 (UTC)

Humanities

No, from the US-POV it is not, it is "Humanities". This is seen to be an arbitrary border eg. here in Germany. This is why I added Humanities to the Template as a "Related Topic".

IM POV, it would belong under a new list between "Formal Sciences" and "Related Topics" with at least the contents:

• Philosophy
• Languages
• Literature
• Law
• History
• Religion
• Arts

I won't make this edit before there is consensus about it here; but even if US-America does not accept those topics as worth the term "science", the inclusion of "Humanities" as "Related topic" should not be altered as a sign that other regions differ from this exclusion. --129.13.72.197 (talk) 17:16, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

There is obviously a problem of translation here. German Wissenschaft includes the humanities, but English science most certainly does not. This is true in every dialect of English, not only American English, so I'm not sure what you're trying to say about "US-POV," and it is simply a question of what the word means, not a value judgment, so I'm not sure what you mean about what's "worth the term". -- Rbellin|Talk 18:30, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

I would agree, but see Merriam Webster dictionary ("the science of theology") This doesn't really reflect common usage in the UK which is better reflected in the Collins and American Heritage entries in the free dictionary. -- Phil Barker 15:34, 13 September 2010 (UTC)

"Sacred science"

I've moved the following over to here from my talk page:Kenosis (talk) 12:04, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

== Sacred Science ==:

Why did you remove the Sacred Sciences from {{Science}}? The word "science" simply means knowlege, and philosophy, canon law and theology are forms of knowlege.

Canon Law Junkie §§§ Talk 08:56, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

I removed it for the reason given in the edit summary. I previously made a comment about it at Talk:Science but not here, for which I apologize. No apologies about removing the recently added category of "Sacred Sciences" though--it simply is way too much of a stretch in today's world. ... Kenosis (talk) 12:03, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

My tuppenceworth: in the 18th century "science" meant "knowledge", and what we now call science was called "natural philosophy". Not the same thing as theology. The shift in meaning was prominent in the 1830s, with William Whewell coining the term "scientist", and by the end of the 19th century the older meaning was clearly obsolete. By then early expectations that scientific investigation would support natural theology had proved fruitless, and science was both independent and secular. Many religious people were scientists, but they did not expect science to give theological answers. Changing terminology, and changing concepts. . . dave souza, talk 21:01, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

Here are some definitions of science taken from Dictionary.com

1. systematized knowledge in general.

1. knowledge, as of facts or principles; knowledge gained by systematic study.

1. a particular branch of knowledge.

1. skill, esp. reflecting a precise application of facts or principles; proficiency.

If the sacred sciences don't fit these, I don't know what does. Canon Law Junkie §§§ Talk 11:33, 28 September 2010 (UTC)