This is the first of four chapters directed mainly at this book's secondary goal of enhancing perspective (the others being Chapters 3.4, and 10). The particular kind of perspective sought here is intellectual perspective, as contrasted with, say, perspective on science's monetary costs, technological benefits, or sociological role. The focus here is on the traffic of ideas between science and the humanities, especially philosophy and history. In pursing perspective on science, this chapter tackles three rudimentary questions: What does it mean to say that science is a liberal art? What claims does science make for its methods and conclusions? What is the meaning of truth in science, and how has that meaning developed historically?

SCIENCE AS A LIBERAL ART

Is science a liberal art? What would it mean to affirm that it is, or to deny that it is? How has this conception of science waxed and waned over the centuries, and what are its current prospects? To address such issues about science's intellectual identity, a good point of departure is the position of the world's largest scientific organization, the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The official, energetic position of the AAAS (1990:xi) is that “Science is one of the liberal arts and … must be taught as one of the liberal arts, which it unquestionably is.”