The 4 main types of science (and their research fields)

Science is the intellectual and practical activity carried out through the systematic study of the elements of the world. This includes both the level of structural organization and individual behavior, and applies to the physical, natural or social environment.

Thus, being a very broad activity, science can offer explanations on different areas. To facilitate the distinction between one and the other, science is usually divided into several types. In this article we will see what types of science exist and how each is described.

• Related article: "The 15 types of research (and characteristics)"

What is science?

Science can also be understood as a body of knowledge on a particular topic. In fact, there are different bodies of knowledge that can be considered a specific type of science. The distinction between one and the other can be given by their object of study, or they can be distinguished by the research methods that each one uses.

Since when does science exist? Despite the fact that his general background

can be traced from classical philosophy and the most ancient practices; the era that is recognized as the founder of science as we know it now is modernity.

Science is consolidated from the "scientific revolutions" that, by means of the paradigm of universal reason, they laid the foundations for the creation of a method that would allow us to know and systematically explain the phenomena of the world.

And not only know and explain them, but raise hypotheses and offer solutions to specific problems. In fact, it is these revolutions, along with major changes at the socioeconomic level, that mark the end of the medieval era and the beginning of modernity in Western societies.

• You may be interested: "The 9 types of knowledge: what are they?"

The 4 main types of science (and their differences)

Considering that science can encompass very broad bodies of knowledge, the latter are usually divided according to the specific knowledge they generate. In this sense three main types of science are usually recognized: formal sciences, natural sciences and social sciences.

All of them are considered as fundamental sciences, insofar as they have made it possible to generate other types of more limited scientific knowledge, for example, medicine, psychology, engineering, among others. Next we will see each of the types of science, as well as some specific subtypes or disciplines that make them up.

1. Formal sciences

The formal sciences are a set of logical and abstract systems that can be applied to different objects of study. The formal sciences are made up of sign systems. In turn, these systems originate a series of abstract structures through which patterns are generated. organization and different phenomena are explained once presuppositions have been accepted from which part. The latter is what differentiates them from the natural and social sciences.

Among the disciplines that are considered formal sciences are logic, mathematics, statistics and computer systems, among other.

On the other hand, formal sciences can serve as the basis for the rest of the sciences that we will see (and work both for the analysis of physical phenomena natural as human or social), but they do not need empirical data to exist, since their scope begins and ends in logical relationships and numerical.

2. Factual science

This type of science presents opposite characteristics to the previous category, since in this case the Scientific activity focuses on the study of natural and social phenomena that exist beyond the ideas. That is, it creates models that represent objectifiable phenomena that can be located in space-time and measured.

If in formal sciences one works starting from abstract thought, in factual sciences It starts from the observation of a phenomenon belonging to the empirical field, and not of rationality.

On the other hand, some researchers and philosophers divide this type of science into two other branches that we will see below: the social sciences and the natural sciences. But we must not lose sight of the fact that this division is to some extent artificial, since all human and social activity is carried out through the laws of nature.

Finally, it should be noted that many times the following two categories are spoken without more than that, without considering that they are encompassed in a concept called factual sciences.

3. Natural Sciences

As its name indicates it, the object of study of the natural sciences is nature and the phenomena that occur in it. It is responsible for describing, explaining, understanding and / or predicting them. These phenomena, in turn, they can range from biology to the most complex elements of the universe.

In fact, the natural sciences are usually subdivided into two large groups: the physical sciences and the biological sciences. The former include disciplines such as chemistry, physics, astronomy, and geology; while the latter include the different forms of life that exist on our planet. The latter can be human beings, animals, plants and microorganisms. Hence, it includes disciplines such as botany, zoology or veterinary medicine, anatomy, ecology, genetics or neuroscience, among other.

Unlike the formal sciences, both the natural sciences and the social sciences are fundamentally empirical. That is, the knowledge they produce is based on observable phenomena, with which their existence can be verified by other observers.

4. Social Sciences

The social sciences are the set of disciplines that is responsible for studying human beings in behavioral and social terms. That is to say, its object of study can be both the individual and society. These are disciplines that were considered as part of science long after the previous ones; approximately in the nineteenth century after the scientific method was transferred to the studies of the individual and the social.

However, given that in some cases it was very difficult to complete this transfer, the social sciences have constantly problematized the methods of approach to its object of study. In general, there are two main ways, which are not always considered exclusive: the quantitative methodology and the qualitative methodology.

Examples of disciplines that make up the social sciences are sociology, economics, psychology, archeology, communication, history, geography, linguistics, political science, among other

Bibliographic references:

• Cleland, C. (2001). Historical science, experimental science, and the scientific method. Geology, 29 (11): 987-990.
• Cohen, M. (1934). An introduction to logic and scientific method. Oxford, England: Harcourt, Brace.
• Lakatos, I. (1983). The methodology of scientific research programs. University Alliance: Madrid.