General

What is Empirical Sciences

The empirical sciences are those that prove or justify their hypotheses through punctual experience and the perception of the world through the senses.

Hence its name, from the ancient Greek word empeiria which means ‘experience’. The method par excellence of this type of science is the hypothetical-deductive method.

Said hypothetical-deductive method assumes that the empirical sciences are born from experience and observation of the world, and through those same processes they will verify their postulates, trying to predict or deduce the results obtained, for example, by reproducing experimental of an observed phenomenon.

See also: Examples of Scientific Method

Difference between empirical sciences and other sciences

The empirical sciences are distinguished from the formal sciences in their greatest efforts to verify hypotheses through experiential testing, that is, from experience and perception, although this does not necessarily imply experimentation.

In fact, all experimental sciences are empirical sciences by force, but not all empirical sciences are experimental: some may use non-experimental verification methods, such as observational and/or correlational ones.

In principle, the empirical sciences are opposed to the formal sciences in that the latter do not require an empirical verification and justification mechanism, but rather undertake the study of coherent logical systems whose rule systems are not necessarily comparable with those of the physical world. natural, as is the case in mathematics.

Types of empirical sciences

The empirical sciences are divided into two main branches:

  • Natural sciences. They undertake the study of the physical world and its laws, of everything that we attribute to “nature”. They are also known as “hard” sciences because of their necessary accuracy and testability.
  • Human or social sciences. In contrast, the social or soft sciences deal with the human being, whose principles of action do not respond to universally describable laws and mechanisms, but rather to trends and classifications of behavior. They offer a much less deterministic idea of ​​the real than the hard sciences.

Examples of empirical sciences

  1. Physical. Understood as the description of the forces that act in the real world from applied mathematical models, to formulate laws that describe and predict them. It is a natural science.
  2. Chemistry. It is the science in charge of studying the laws that govern matter and the relationships between its particles (atoms and molecules), as well as the mixing and transformation phenomena to which they are susceptible. It is also natural science.
  3. Biology. The so-called science of life, because it is interested in the origin of living beings and their various processes of development, evolution, and reproduction. It is a natural science, of course.
  4. Physical chemistry. Born from both physics and chemistry, it covers those spaces of experience and experimentation that require a double view of the matter and its processes, in order to determine both its internal and external processes. It is logically a natural science.
  5. Geology. The science that is dedicated to the study of the processes of the different layers of the surface of our planet, paying attention to its particular geochemical and geothermal history. It is also natural science.
  6. Medicine. This science is dedicated to the study of health and human life, trying to understand the complex functioning of our body from tools borrowed from other natural sciences, such as chemistry, biology, or physics. It is undoubtedly a natural science.
  7. Biochemistry. This branch of science combines the precepts of chemistry and biology to delve into the cellular and microscopic operations of living organisms, studying the way in which the atomic elements of their bodies operate in specific processes. It is a natural science.
  8. Astronomy. The science that deals with describing and studying the relationships between space objects, from stars and distant planets to the laws that can be derived from observing the universe outside our planet. It is another natural science.
  9. Oceanography. The study of the oceans, from a biological, chemical, and physical perspective, trying to best describe the unique laws with which the marine universe operates. It is also natural science.
  10. Nanoscience. This is the name given to the study of systems whose scales are practically submolecular, with the purpose of understanding the forces that occur between particles of these dimensions and trying to manipulate them through nanotechnology.
  11. Anthropology. The study of man, in broad strokes, attending to the social and cultural manifestations of their communities throughout their history and the world. It is a social science, that is, a “soft” science.
  12. Economy. It deals with the study of resources, the creation of wealth, and the distribution and consumption of goods and services, in order to meet the needs of the human race. It is also a social science.
  13. Sociology. Social science par excellence dedicates its interest to human societies and the different phenomena of a cultural, artistic, religious, and economic nature that take place in them.
  14. Psychology. The science that focuses on the study of the processes and mental perceptions of the human being, attending to its physical and social context and its different stages of constitution or development. It is also a social science.
  15. History. Science whose object of study is the past of humanity and which addresses it from archives, evidence, stories, and any other period support. Although there is debate about it, it is normally accepted to consider it a social science.
  16. Linguistics. Social science is interested in the various human languages ​​and the forms of verbal communication of man.
  17. Right. Also called legal sciences, they usually understand the theory of law and the philosophy of law, as well as the possible approaches to the different legal regulatory systems created by the different States to govern the social, political, and economic behavior of their population.
  18. Librarianship. It is about studying the internal processes of libraries, managing their resources, and internal book management systems. It should not be confused with library science and it is also a social science.
  19. Criminology. Despite being a trans and multidisciplinary discipline, it is often included in the social sciences. His object of study is crime and criminals, understood as human aspects understandable from the tools of sociology, psychology, and other related social sciences.
  20. Geography. Social science in charge of the description and graphic representation of the surface of our planet, including the seas and oceans and the different territories, reliefs, regions, and even societies that constitute it.

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