Fundamental science (pure science) is science that describes the most basic objects and forces as well as the relations among them and laws governing them. Other phenomena may in principle be thought to be derived from the processes studied in fundamental science, following the logic of scientific reductionism. Biology, chemistry, and physics are fundamental sciences; engineering is not. There is a difference between fundamental science and applied science (or practical science). Fundamental science, in contrast to applied science, may have no immediate practical use. Progress in fundamental science is based on controlled experiments and careful observation although these methods do not distinguish fundamental science from applied science; progress in applied science equally depends upon controlled experiments and careful observation. Fundamental science is dependent upon deductions from well-established findings and valued theories. Fundamental science has traditionally been associated with the physical and natural sciences; some research in the social and behavioral sciences, however, can also be deemed fundamental (e.g., cognitive neuroscience, personality).
Famous quotes containing the words fundamental and/or science:
“One of the fundamental reasons why so many doctors become cynical and disillusioned is precisely because, when the abstract idealism has worn thin, they are uncertain about the value of the actual lives of the patients they are treating. This is not because they are callous or personally inhuman: it is because they live in and accept a society which is incapable of knowing what a human life is worth.”
—John Berger (b. 1926)
“The conscience of the world is so guilty that it always assumes that people who investigate heresies must be heretics; just as if a doctor who studies leprosy must be a leper. Indeed, it is only recently that science has been allowed to study anything without reproach.”
—Aleister Crowley (1875–1947)