Changing Worldviews essays

Changing Worldviews essays Developing Change in the Scientific View of Nature Science, as we know it, is beginning to shift from a controlling, manipulative, and detached way of studying and relating to nature to a more qualitative, embracing view of the world. We are realizing the part we play in it. As our society becomes more evolved, science has allowed us to expand ourselves over a wide variety of ecosystems. We are finally starting to realize the impact we are having on the earth. No longer can we separate ourselves from the land and influence the earths natural resources to benefit only us. This is the cause of environmental problems such as pollution, species extinction, habitat damage, erosion, etc. It is no longer the controller and the controlled; we are a part of the environment. The old view of science has taught us to control the conditions of nature therefore being able to expect the proper outcome but nature is unpredictable and can never be completely controlled. For example, the scientific method that is taught in almost every science course in school all over the world teaches us of the dependant and independent variables. These variables you control and you manipulate. All of your scientific observations are quantitative, based on numbers and measurable substances, it was believed and taught that scientific observation could not, or should not, be influenced by the experimenter and their thoughts, views, morals or state of mind. This limits what you can observe and what you can learn. By not observing the qualities of the organisms, ecosystems, etc. that you are experimenting with, you are eliminating the problems that you could see that may be affecting them, how healthy they are, how productive they are, how they interact with other species or nei ghboring ecosystems. This brings us to another problem arising from the old view of science; the breaking down of things into smaller pieces and studying the fragments, ignoring the w...