TOK Essay: What is it About Theories in the Human Sciences and Natural Sciences That Makes Them Convincing?

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Ever since the beginning of the Revolution of science, the western world has valued the scientific improvement over any other, placing scientific theories and leaders on the base above their equals in lower sectors of society such as leaders within the business sector or governmental leaders, which leads to the question: Why is it that the Sciences and theories are held in such as great respects? With the two different areas of knowledge what results and consequences, do these two different sciences utilize methods such as observation, empirical evidence and the scientific method, in the development of theories? These two areas of knowledge have key differences at their conclusion, which leads to their differences in their ways that they persuade others. In what why do the aspects vary? Are the truths established in the sciences unquestionably true? But importantly, what is it about theories in Human Sciences and Natural Sciences that make them Convincing? To begin this research, there are definitions of some key terms in the title that I will explain. The principal that introduces something to be a theory in sciences is that it must be an idea/claim that is descriptive, predictable and explanatory in nature. This is built around ideas that are supported by evidence, which corresponds to logic with the current knowledge. Even more common theories in the sciences must be able to be falsified by nature. In that way, theories by definition can never be proven to be completely right and therefore stay untouched by opposing arguments. It is the nature of theories that this essay is mostly concerned with. The word “Convincing” is area of consideration where definition of the word can be concerned. A theory that can overcome opposing ... ... middle of paper ... ...ied to our tendency to think that we know more about these theories than we actually do, when in reality, we are basically placing our trust in scientific figures to tell us what is convincing or not convincing at all. Works Cited Chemistry for the IB diploma. Christopher Talbot, Richard Harwood, Christopher Coates. Hodder Education.2010. Financial crisis: Full force of US downgrade is felt around the world. 8 August 2011. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/aug/07/financial-crisis-force-us-downgrade http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance • The Automobile Buyer after the Purchase. The Journal of Marketing Vol. 31, No. 3.Gerald D. Bell. July 1967. • The U.S. economic crisis: Causes and solutions. Fred Moseley. March–April 2009. http://www.isreview.org/issues/64/feat-moseley.shtml http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/truth-coherence/

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