Paleoscience
Paleoscience [note 1] is:
- according to [1] in plural all those scientific disciplines that deal with historical references. These include past-related topics in the fields of archeology, geology, further on paleontology, paleoanthropology etc.
- according to [2] in plural those branches of the natural enviromental sciences that focus on the reconstruction and modeling of the past events rather than direct observation and experiment.
Paleoscience and worldview of the scientists
Since paleosciences do not deal with direct observations of the phenomena that took place in the unobservable past, but rather with their effects, they are sometimes referred to as historical sciences. This differentiates them from empirical science that primarily rely on the possibility to repeatedly conduct the experiment.[note 2] As it is not possible to travel in time and directly observe the past phenomena, paleosciences are dependent on assumptions that are in principle not absolutely verifiable. Thus, the worldview of scientist might play a dominant role in the process of selection of these explanatory assumptions as well as when interpreting the current findings and observed effects of the past phenomena.
Notes
- ↑ also (pal(a)eo(-)sciences); "paleo-" prefix means "very old; prehistoric"; Etymology from Ancient Greek: palaios: "old"
- ↑ The term paleoscience also correlates to origin science and/or historical science; and experimental science and/or empirical science to operation science, respectively.
References
- ↑ Freiburger Institut für Paläowissenschaftliche Studien (F.I.P.S.) (german). clio-online.de (2005). Retrieved on 2011-05-15.
- ↑ Benito, G., Gregory, K. J., 2003 Palaeohydrology: understanding global change. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, p.397