Holism in Scientific Explanation
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Abstract
No acceptable scientific inquiry can ever truly be considered complete. At some point, completing such an endeavor would require reaching the limits of the universe itself in order to establish an exhaustive collection of all analogous events and explain them through concepts that adequately capture their distinctive characteristics using previously available terminology.
To understand the meaning of a scientific term and employ it correctly, one must also understand its methodological (systemic) role, as determined by the theoretical principles within which it performs its function and through which it is connected to other theoretical concepts. This perspective demonstrates that comprehensive knowledge of the phenomena of the universe remains beyond our reach, despite the remarkable achievements of contemporary science.
What can be inferred from this view is that science attained maturity only after moving beyond the confines of qualitative descriptive language toward the broader and more rigorous domain of mathematics. Mathematics enabled scientists to capture empirical truths through quantitative methods and endowed scientific explanation with a high degree of precision by expressing phenomena in the form of laws and theories.
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