SCIENCE AND CONSCIENCE
SCIENCE AND CONSCIENCE

Summary/Abstract: Science is central to the cultural heritage of humankind. It is a meritocritous, fact-based activity in which the quality and value of scientific investigations are alone important. In mediaeval Latin the word used for knowledge was scientia. The English word science came from this word. During the Middle Ages any well-educated person could have almost all available knowledge. For example, Copernicus (1473–1543) mastered all of the scientific knowledge of his time – law, mathematics, and medicine, as well as his favourite discipline, astronomy. Since then science has won the recognition and respect of many societies. In the twentieth century the rate of scientific progress has surpassed that of any other time in history and has grown exponentially. Science has changed our lives; it has changed the world. It has become very specialized: modern scientific disciplines include specialty knowledge possessed only by experts. Science has also become aristocratic: while there are more scientists than ever before, more and more scientific knowledge is incomprehensible to non-specialists and to the public.

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