研究生精读[下册]supplementary reading.ppt

* * * * * * Ⅰ . Supplementary Reading Ⅱ . Questions Supplementary Reading Supplementary Reading Doing Science [1] We all know that science plays an important role in the societies in which we live. Many people believe, however, that our progress depends on two aspects of science. The first of which is the application of the machines, products and systems of applied knowledge that scientists and technologists develop. Through technology, science improves the structure of society and helps man to gain increasing control over his environment. The second aspect is the application by all members of society from the government official to the ordinary citizen, of the special methods of thought and action that scientists use in their work. Supplementary Reading [2] Human beings have distinguished themselves from other animals, and in doing so ensured their survival, by the ability to observe and understand their environment and then either to adapt to that environment or to control and adapt it to their own needs. The process of careful observation, perception of a pattern in the phenomena observed, followed by exploitation of this knowledge, has largely inspired the area of human activity known as “science.” It has also provided the bases for the traditional methodology of science: objective observation and description of some phenomena, the formulation of a hypothesis or hypotheses about the events observed and possible relationships among them, the use of these to predict future events, the verification of the hypotheses and, on this basis, the construction of a theory of some area of natural activity. Supplementary Reading [3] While this process still underlies most scientific activity, the classic “scientific method” has been criticized from a variety of perspectives. To begin with, it is apparent that the “objectivity” of science and scientists strictly characterizes only the lowest order of scientific activity—observation. Even here it is doubtful whether anyone ca