1.18: There are limits to what science can do.

The scientific method is a framework that helps us make sense of what we see, hear, and read in our lives. There are limits, however, to what science can do.

The scientific method will never prove or disprove the existence of God. Nor is it likely to help us understand the mathematical elegance of Fermat’s last theorem or the beauty of Shakespeare’s sonnets. As one of several approaches to the acquisition of knowledge, the scientific method is, above all, empirical. It differs from non-scientific approaches such as mathematics and logic, history, music, and the study of artistic expression in that it relies on measuring phenomena in some way. The generation of value judgments and other types of non-quantifiable, subjective information—such as religious assertions of faith—falls outside the realm of science. Despite all of the intellectual analyses that the scientific method gives rise to and the objective conclusions it makes possible, it does not, for example, generate moral statements and it cannot give us insight into ethical problems. What “is” (i.e., what we observe in the natural world) is not necessarily what “ought” to be (i.e., what is morally right). It may or may not be.

Further, much of what is commonly considered to be science, such as the construction of new engineering marvels or the heroic surgical separation of conjoined twins, is not scientific at all. Rather, these are technical innovations and developments. While they frequently rely on sophisticated scientific research, they represent the application of research findings to varied fields such as manufacturing and medicine to solve problems (FIGURE 1-24).

As we begin approaching the world from a more scientific perspective, we can gain important insights into the facts of life, yet must remain mindful of the limits to science.