The word science has its origins in the Latin verb scire meaning "to know". Although "one can know through tenacity, authority, faith, intuition or science" (Malhorta, 1994), "science is looked upon as proven knowledge knowledge based on the facts of experience acquired by observation and experiment". (Chalmers, A 1982). These highlighted words (facts, proven) imply truth and certainty. But is this the case? To answer the above question, we must first answer another. What is science? .
In short, "The aim of science can be understood as the production of knowledge of the world" (Chalmers, A 1990, p.24). The thing that distinguishes science from the other derivatives of knowledge stated previously, is the method used to acquire this knowledge. The first universally accepted definition of the "scientific method" was derived by Francis Bacon in the early seventeenth century. This theory was known as the theory of inductivism. Bacon derived his method of induction as he believed it would increase the productivity of science. The so-called Baconian picture states that scientific studies begin in a particular field with an open mind towards the accumulation of knowledge. This is followed by a hypothesis; aimed at explaining the data collected during these open-minded observations. This is then followed by carrying out experiments to test the hypothesis. If the hypothesis is verified by the experiments carried out, then it acquires the status of a scientific law and is, thus, a proven fact. .
Proven; that word again implying fact. But can a hypothesis ever be "proven"? According to David Hume, the answer to this question is no. His argument is that no general statement can ever derived from a finite number of individual observations. This became known as the problem of induction.
In 1912 Bertrand Russell attempted to counter Hume's theory, formulating a "principle of induction". He states that we all believe that the sun will rise tomorrow morning and then asks, "Is this belief a mere blind outcome of past experience, or can it be justified as a reasonable belief?.
