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Science Is the Only Way to Discover the Truth

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Science Is the Only Way to Discover the Truth

The saying “Without evidence, anything goes”, has more than meets the eye, especially

when considering the concept of truth and the role of science in attaining, at least, some level of

reliability about truthfulness. Evidence is the precursor of the truth; meanwhile evidence is

established scientifically using methods such as measurement. Subsequently, substantial

evidence is not theoretical or explanatory. There are two perspectives when considering the

concept of truth and its relationship with goal of science. The first perspective question whether

there can be truths exist outside the purview of science. In other words, it is premised on

investigating the truths that, to whichever extent, are familiar to people without using any form

of scientific inquiry to familiarized themselves with them. The other perspective concedes that;

indeed, the goal of science is truth and therefore questions if there are truths that scientific

inquire have no handle on. Science is not the only way to discover the truth since there are it

develops theories and explanations and that, at scientific methods of inquiry are consistent with

every day’s modes of investigation which is inherently the process of verifying events or

phenomena and founding truths.

First, evidence is a precursor of truth and therefore anything that does not provide

evidence cannot be considered next to the truth. It implies that science cannot be the sole

pursuant of truth since it entails aspects such as explanation and theorizing. Van Woudenberg

(2013) argue that the existence of theorizing and explanation in most scientific goals makes

science unworthy to be considered as the only way for establishing truth. According to Van

Woudenberg (2013) science aims to find out truths—true answers to questions. He wonders if

science can be considered to aim for the truth, then where does explanations and theories fit?

Admittedly, the idea of explanations and theories are not necessarily the truth. Therefore, if
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science aims to give an explanation to a phenomenon, then it implies that it is does not come

next to the truth about the phenomena. According to Van Woudenberg (2013), explanation and

theory construction goals of science are essentially efforts in pursuits of the truth about a

phenomena or other kinds of issues; however, these aspects or goals of science are not the goals

next to finding out truths. The bottom line is that truth cannot be explanatory or theoretical but

should have a degree of accuracy. Damayanti (2020), notes that the continuous measurement,

weighing, experimenting and testing can produce a definite truth. Therefore, theorizing and

giving some forms of explanation does not facilitate a concrete or definite truth.

Besides, in the pursuit for truth, science augment the everyday ways of investigation.

The nature of these everyday methods of investigations shows that they are in fact not

scientific. Van Woudenberg (2013),notes the fact that scientific methods stand aside from other

non-scientific modes inquiry implies that it is not the sole means of finding truth. He argues that

“the idea that there is something that sets scientific inquiry apart from more day-to-day ways of

finding out things is responsible for the honorific aura that has come to surround science” ( p. 3).

This statement implies that there are other means of inquiry in the everyday quest for truth and

that these methods can stand aside independently provide diverse perspectives about truth and

how to find truth. Notably, science cannot be the only means of searching for the truth. For

instance, the methods of common sense can also be used to make sense of phenomena and

establish truths about certain phenomena or variety of astonishing events and issues. Otherwise,

there is the issue of faith that tends denigrate the truth that science provides (Deagon, 2013).

.Therefore, science is not the only method that can help in establishing truth. In fact, it is

augmented and complemented by other methods that stand aside as approaches to establishing

the truth.
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Overall, evidence is precursor of truth and the nature of the evidence and how they

are sourced determines the debate about whether science is the only way of finding truth.

Science is not the only way to discover the truth since for several reasons and inconsistencies

concerning its relevance in the quest for truth. First, it entails theories and explanations which

are not necessary the truth in their nature and occurrence. Besides, scientific methods of

inquiry are consistent with every day’s modes of investigation which is inherently the process of

verifying events or phenomena and founding truths. These methods include common sense and

even faith which can allow people to perceive truth about events and other phenomena.
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References

Van Woudenberg, R. (2013). Truth, the goal of science. Retrieved from

https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?

doi=10.1.1.364.2822&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Damayanti, F. N. (2020). The truth of science in a prophetic value perspective.

http://repository.unimus.ac.id/3786/1/THE%20TRUTH%20OF%20SCIENCE%20IN

%20A%20PROFETIC%20VALUE%20PERSPECTIVE%20NEW.pdf

Deagon, A. (2013). Popper or Kuhn: Truth and the progress of science. In Perspectives on

Progress Conference.