THE IMPLICIT METAPHYSICAL CHARACTERS OF MODERN SCIENCE

Chinedu Ifeakor, John-Paul Nnamaka Nwuguru

Abstract


Philosophy and science have historically the same epistemological maternity namely- the search for truth. But science was subsumed and studied in philosophy. However, with the scientific revolution that heralded the wake of 17th century and its epistemological exigencies, science sought for independence in order to employ its own particular language in its peculiar internal logic. This particular move for independence was hardly unconnected to empiricity and high possibility of verifiability which science promises. Notwithstanding the laudable successes and glories recorded by science since the Ancient, Middle, Modern and Contemporary epochs, and which became most evidently glaring in the radical technological advancements of the late 20th century to date, modern scientists seem to be deceived into believing that science is absolutely independent of philosophy (metaphysics) but obviously, they were oblivious of its impossibility. Against this backdrop of over claim of science independence by the scientists, this paper x-rays the philosophical contents of science, vis-à-vis the unavoidable implicit metaphysical characters buried in the foundation of scientific practices. Given the two concepts involved in this paper (Metaphysics and Science), the method of dialogic was employed to help bring out the relationship and interaction between the two concepts, and the anticipated result is that the former is fundamentally present in the later.

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References


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