The Language of Science

Science is what scientists do and, especially, what they say about what they do. Science is a way of talking about the world that enables the listener to behave more effectively in that world. Understanding science, then, is a matter of understanding the language of science. Scientific verbal practices are codified and recorded so that they can affect the behavior of all scientists, including those without access to the original controlling variables. What we know about the world is simply the way we have learned to talk about the world. We know best what is most useful about the world, in the sense that what we know enables us to behave effectively in the world. Scientists are unique in that they, more so than non-scientists, have the experience of behaving as effectively as possible-they can predict and control. This is what makes all the difference, in the sense that it makes science different from other ways of knowing about the world. Science is not simply one way of knowing about the world, it is arguably the most effective way of knowing about it. Scientific talk leads to effective action.