Branches of Science

When you talk about the branches of science, reference is made to the way in which scientific knowledge is organized or classified, based on their shared features, that is, on the type of knowledge that each one deals with. Within each branch, therefore, are the sub-branches or disciplines that we normally refer to, such as mathematics, sociology or geography.

This classification has not always been the same, however, and has varied significantly over the centuries, as the concept of science.

The contemporary classification of the sciences distinguishes between five major branches or scientific divisions main ones, but it is important to emphasize that none of them constitutes a field of knowledge isolated from the the rest.

In fact, within each one there are various sub-branches dedicated to more specific topics (for example, within the chemistry are the organic chemistry and the inorganic chemistry), and at the same time entire disciplines that arise from the intersection of the disciplines of the same branch (such as astrophysics or

biochemistry, fruit of the intersection of astronomy and physics, and biology and chemistry, respectively) or even of disciplines belonging to different branches (such as the psychology of art).

1. formal sciences

The formal sciences are those that are dedicated to the study of abstract objects and mental systems, which although not exist in the physical world, they do describe relationships and proportions applicable to understanding reality. In other words, these sciences deal with relationships and mental forms in themselves, and thus serve as a basis for the study of physical or natural reality.

It is a set of purely deductive sciences, which admit neither induction nor abduction, and whose object of study is ideal (that is, it belongs to the world of ideas), stated in terms of truth logic. For the formal sciences, what is important is the validation of their reasoning as definitions, propositions Y axioms, that is, as formal systems that respond to their own rules in a logical and coherent manner.

The main formal sciences are:

1. Natural Science

The natural Sciences or natural sciences (also known as physical sciences, "pure" sciences, or "exact" sciences) are the heiresses of the natural philosophy or natural history of antiquity, whose object of study is the physical and real world of nature. These sciences deal with describing and understanding the world around us: its laws, its elements constitutive, its fundamental principles, going from the most basic and abstract, to the most concrete and tangible.

The natural sciences have a close relationship with the formal sciences, since the abstract systems of the latter serve as a system to measure, describe and understand reality. This is why, for example, physics relies heavily on mathematics to describe the laws that govern the universe.

On the other hand, the natural sciences are governed by the empirical-analytical method, that is, the scientific method, designed to allow demonstration and replication in a controlled environment of the phenomena studied.

The main natural sciences are:

1. the social sciences

The social Sciences are those disciplines that were born in the nineteenth century from the desire to apply the scientific method and the rigors of the study of the natural world to human society. To do this, they had to adapt the conceptual instruments of the sciences to the changing, unpredictable and complex nature of humanity. natural, and in that sense instead of resorting to experiments in laboratories, they use qualitative (and quantitative) instruments such as surveys, interviews, studies of speech and other similar ones, which allow taking into account the main aspect that differentiates humanity from animal populations: subjectivity.

The social sciences are, however, objective sciences, devoted to the study of material and immaterial manifestations of humanity, but its difficult object of study push towards the description and interpretation, and not towards the formulation of rigid and empirical theories, as in the case of the so-called "exact sciences". However, his approach through formal languages it is still much more similar to that of the natural sciences than to that of the humanities or human sciences.

The main social sciences are:

1. the human sciences

The human Sciences o Humanities are a set of disciplines that study the human being in its strictly cultural dimensions, that is, without covering its biological or population aspects. This means that its object of study is human culture, understood as language, thought and the different and numerous forms of artistic expression. It is a concept that opposes that of the natural sciences, but at the same time complements it.

The human sciences are as old as the natural sciences: they have a long and rich classical tradition, and at the same time a medieval one with the systems of the Trivium et Quadrivium (that is, the liberal arts of the Middle Ages). From the 19th century they were called "sciences of culture" or "sciences of the spirit".

The main human sciences are:

1. applied sciences

The Applied Science they are a set of scientific disciplines that study reality with the predetermined purpose of solving a problem or developing a tool to respond to a need. In general, they are opposed to the idea of ​​fundamental sciences (those that do not pursue practical application) and detach from them both in the field of formal, natural or social knowledge.

Applied sciences are characterized by their practical, applicable dimension, which always seeks to change the state of things to some extent. Hence, they are disciplines highly valued by society, since their advances are perceived in a very concrete and immediate way. This does not mean that there are no important bridges between the other sciences and the sciences applied, in fact, the very idea of ​​its existence depends on the existence of theoretical knowledge that Apply.

The main applied sciences are:

References:

• "Science" in Wikipedia.
• "Branches of science"in Wikipedia.
• "Classification of sciences" in the Galician Board (Spain).
• "Science" in The Encyclopaedia Britannica.

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