Science

Science (or “Universal Science”) is a traditional branch of Metaphysics, which is a major branch of Philosophy. This fact and truth may seem controversial, it may be anathema to some, but there it is. The entire project and purpose of Science is the forever more fundamental and rigorous pursuit of Theory, Observation, Measurement, and Tabulation of, well, everything in the Universe which can be theorized, observed, measured, and tabulated. This is also part of what defines Philosophy, and indeed, Metaphysics. To pursue Science is to pursue philosophical questions.

Both philosophers and scientists are working on the same “Universal Project”, if you will, which is our shared Human endeavour to contemplate and understand. This defines the investigation and study of “What Is”, “Why It Is”, and “What We Are” within it. The two groups use similar and sometimes the same methods, as in the Philosophy of Science, but sometimes different mindsets or areas of emphasis, such as French Post-Structuralism compared to Molecular Chemistry, for example. Deeper questions always remain after things have been theorized, observed, measured, and tabulated by Science, because scientists are much more reserved regarding larger or deeper claims, while philosophers are more focused on those deeper questions as their stock in trade. Philosophy is the “Mother of All Sciences”, the original source of all deep inquiry, but Science is a prominent and indispensable “division” or “programme” of fundamentally philosophical inquiry which has grown so vast and diversified that many have lost touch with its root.

What Is

Perhaps the most fundamental area of our “Universal Project” defined above is the question of What Exactly Exists. This is the Ontology of what Exists as far as we can detect and demonstrate. Areas of Science directly related to this question include Astronomy, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and a number of Ontology-adjacent areas in the Natural and Physical Science specializations within these broad areas, but also the development of Mathematics, which is a Language based on Logic, which again, is a major branch of Philosophy. However, many of these areas also tie in and reveal another fundamental purpose below, which has to do with our own role in What Exists.

Why It Is

Why What Exists does Exist is an equally profound area of study. This is the Teleology of what exists, and what we can discern and prove about its Purpose and Cause. Main Areas of Science directly related to this question include all of the above, and particularly the Life Sciences. However, all areas of scientific inquiry are necessarily wound up with questions about the Purposes and Causes of any and all Processes and Systems. From Quantum Physics and Molecular Chemistry, to Botany, Physiology, and Geology, to Astronomy and Cosmology, we can honestly ask what is Science studying if not the Purpose and Cause of All Things?

What We Are

Arguably, it could also be the most fundamental area of our “Universal Project” to investigate ourselves and how we relate to the Universe. This is because we are the Beings doing the investigating through Philosophy and Science, and it is we who have all the questions, answers, fears, delights, and driving Purpose in pursing them. Our Universal Project is a Human Project of Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, and then Economics, Politics, larger questions of Ethics, which - you guessed it - is also a major branch of Philosophy. How we embark on and show progress on our great quest is a uniquely Human Reality. This relates right back to the other large questions above, because the very concept of Science is a Human need to answer our big questions, and yet, how are we measuring our own success in Observation, when it is all a part of how we view the World and ourselves in it?