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Formal science

{{Short description|Study of abstract structures described by formal systems}}

{{redirect-distinguish|Mathematics and Statistics|Mathematical statistics|Mathematics|Statistics}}

{{Science|expanded=Branches}}

Formal science is a branch of science studying disciplines concerned with abstract structures described by formal systems, such as logic, mathematics, statistics, theoretical computer science, artificial intelligence, information theory, game theory, systems theory, decision theory and theoretical linguistics. Whereas the natural sciences and social sciences seek to characterize physical systems and social systems, respectively, using empirical methods, the formal sciences use language tools concerned with characterizing abstract structures described by formal systems and the deductions that can be made from them. The formal sciences aid the natural and social sciences by providing information about the structures used to describe the physical world, and what inferences may be made about them.{{Cite book |last=Ramoo |first=Dinesh |url=https://criticalthinking.pressbooks.tru.ca/chapter/formal-vs-empirical-sciences/ |title=Critical Thinking |publisher=Thompson Rivers University Open Press |year=2024}}

Branches

  1. Logic (also a branch of philosophy)
  2. Mathematics
  3. Statistics
  4. Systems science
  5. Data science
  6. Information theory
  7. Computer science
  8. Cryptography

Differences from other sciences

{{quote|One reason why mathematics enjoys special esteem, above all other sciences, is that its laws are absolutely certain and indisputable, while those of other sciences are to some extent debatable and in constant danger of being overthrown by newly discovered facts.|Albert Einstein{{cite book |author=Albert Einstein |author-link=Albert Einstein |title=Sidelights on relativity |chapter=Geometry and Experience |page=27 |publisher=Courier Dover Publications |year=1923}} Reprinted by Dover (2010), {{ISBN|978-0-486-24511-9}}.}}

Because of their non-empirical nature, formal sciences are construed by outlining a set of axioms and definitions from which other statements (theorems) are deduced. For this reason, in Rudolf Carnap's logical-positivist conception of the epistemology of science, theories belonging to formal sciences are understood to contain no synthetic statements, instead containing only analytic statements.{{Cite encyclopedia

|last=Carnap

|first=Rudolf

|author-link=Rudolf Carnap

|title=Logical Foundations of the Unity of Science

|encyclopedia=International Encyclopaedia of Unified Science

|volume=I

|publisher=University of Chicago Press

|location=Chicago

|year=1938}}

{{Citation

|last=Thompson | first= Bill

|title=The Nature of Statistical Evidence

|chapter=2.4 Formal Science and Applied Mathematics

|publisher=Springer

|series=Lecture Notes in Statistics

|volume=189

|edition=1st

|year=2007

|page=15}}

See also

{{colbegin}}

  • {{annotated link|Philosophy}}
  • {{annotated link|Science}}
  • {{annotated link|Rationalism}}
  • {{annotated link|Abstract structure}}
  • {{annotated link|Abstraction (mathematics)|Abstraction in mathematics}}
  • {{annotated link|Abstraction (computer science)|Abstraction in computer science}}
  • {{annotated link|Cognitive science}}
  • {{annotated link|Formalism (philosophy of mathematics)}}
  • {{annotated link|Formal grammar}}
  • {{annotated link|Formal language}}
  • {{annotated link|Formal methods}}
  • {{annotated link|Formal system}}
  • {{annotated link|Form and content}}
  • {{annotated link|Mathematical model}}
  • {{annotated link|Mathematical sciences}}
  • {{annotated link|Mathematics Subject Classification}}
  • {{annotated link|Semiotics}}
  • {{annotated link|Theory of forms}}

{{colend}}

References

{{reflist}}

Further reading

  • Mario Bunge (1985). Philosophy of Science and Technology. Springer.
  • Mario Bunge (1998). Philosophy of Science. Rev. ed. of: Scientific research. Berlin, New York: Springer-Verlag, 1967.
  • C. West Churchman (1940). Elements of Logic and Formal Science, J.B. Lippincott Co., New York.
  • James Franklin (1994). [http://www.maths.unsw.edu.au/~jim/philosophersstone.pdf The formal sciences discover the philosophers' stone]. In: Studies in History and Philosophy of Science. Vol. 25, No. 4, pp. 513–533, 1994
  • Stephen Leacock (1906). Elements of Political Science. Houghton, Mifflin Co, 417 pp.
  • {{Cite book

|first=Karl R. |last=Popper |authorlink = Karl Popper|year=2002 |title=The Logic of Scientific Discovery |orig-year=1959 |publisher=Routledge Classics |location=New York, NY |isbn=0-415-27844-9 |oclc=59377149 |title-link=The Logic of Scientific Discovery }}

  • Bernt P. Stigum (1990). Toward a Formal Science of Economics. MIT Press
  • Marcus Tomalin (2006), [https://books.google.com/books?id=XbjFag2qCygC Linguistics and the Formal Sciences]. Cambridge University Press
  • William L. Twining (1997). Law in Context: Enlarging a Discipline. 365 pp.

External links

  • {{Commonscat-inline|Formal sciences}}
  • [http://www.math.uni-bonn.de/people/fotfs/ Interdisciplinary conferences — Foundations of the Formal Sciences]

Category:Branches of science