View source for Formal science

{{Short description|Branch of science}}
{{Science|expanded=Branches}}

'''Formal science''' is a [[Branches of science|branch of science]] studying disciplines concerned with abstract structures described by [[Formal system|formal system]]s, such as [[Logic|logic]], [[Mathematics|mathematics]], [[Statistics|statistics]], [[Theoretical computer science|theoretical computer science]], [[Artificial intelligence|artificial intelligence]], [[Information theory|information theory]], [[Game theory|game theory]], [[Systems theory|systems theory]], [[Decision theory|decision theory]], and [[Social:Theoretical linguistics|theoretical linguistics]]. Whereas the [[Natural science|natural science]]s and [[Social:Social science|social science]]s seek to characterize physical systems and [[Social:Social system|social system]]s, respectively, using empirical methods, the formal sciences use language tools concerned with characterizing abstract structures described by formal systems. The formal sciences aid the natural and social sciences by providing information about the structures used to describe the physical world, and what inferences may be made about them.{{Citation needed|date=January 2017}}

==Branches==
# [[Cryptography]]
# [[Logic]] (also a branch of [[Philosophy:Philosophy|philosophy]])
# [[Mathematics]]
# [[Computer science]]
# [[Systems science]]

==Differences from other sciences==
{{quote|One reason why mathematics enjoys special esteem, above all other sciences, is that its laws are absolutely certain and indisputable, while those of other sciences are to some extent debatable and in constant danger of being overthrown by newly discovered facts.|[[Biography:Albert Einstein|Albert Einstein]]<ref>{{cite book |author=Albert Einstein |title=Sidelights on relativity |chapter=Geometry and Experience |page=27 |publisher=Courier Dover Publications |year=1923}} Reprinted by Dover (2010), {{ISBN|978-0-486-24511-9}}.</ref>}}

Because of their non-empirical nature, formal sciences are construed by outlining a set of axioms and definitions from which other statements (theorems) are deduced. For this reason, in [[Biography:Rudolf Carnap|Rudolf Carnap]]'s [[Philosophy:Logical positivism|logical-positivist]] conception of the [[Philosophy:Philosophy of science|epistemology of science]], theories belonging to formal sciences are understood to contain no synthetic statements, instead containing only analytic statements.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia
|last=Carnap
|first=Rudolf
|title=Logical Foundations of the Unity of Science
|encyclopedia=International Encyclopaedia of Unified Science
|volume=I
|publisher=University of Chicago Press
|location=Chicago
|year=1938}}</ref><ref>
{{Citation
|last=Thompson | first= Bill
|title=The Nature of Statistical Evidence
|chapter=2.4 Formal Science and Applied Mathematics
|publisher=Springer
|series=Lecture Notes in Statistics
|volume=189
|edition=1st
|year=2007
|page=15}}
</ref>

==See also==
{{colbegin}}
* [[Philosophy:Philosophy|Philosophy]]
* [[Science]]
* [[Philosophy:Rationalism|Rationalism]]
* [[Abstract structure]]
* [[Abstraction (mathematics)|Abstraction in mathematics]]
* [[Abstraction (computer science)|Abstraction in computer science]]
* [[Philosophy:Formalism (philosophy of mathematics)|Formalism (philosophy of mathematics)]]
* [[Formal grammar]]
* [[Formal language]]
* Formal method
* [[Formal system]]
* Form and content
* [[Mathematical model]]
* [[Mathematical sciences]]
* [[Mathematics Subject Classification]]
* [[Philosophy:Semiotics|Semiotics]]
* [[Philosophy:Theory of forms|Theory of forms]]
{{colend}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* [[Biography:Mario Bunge|Mario Bunge]] (1985). ''Philosophy of Science and Technology''. Springer.
* Mario Bunge (1998). ''Philosophy of Science''. Rev. ed. of: ''Scientific research''. Berlin, New York: Springer-Verlag, 1967.
* C. West Churchman (1940). ''Elements of Logic and Formal Science'', J.B. Lippincott Co., New York.
* [[Biography:James Franklin (philosopher)|James Franklin]] (1994). [http://www.maths.unsw.edu.au/~jim/philosophersstone.pdf The formal sciences discover the philosophers' stone]. In: ''Studies in History and Philosophy of Science''. Vol. 25, No. 4, pp.&nbsp;513–533, 1994
* Stephen Leacock (1906). ''Elements of Political Science''. Houghton, Mifflin Co, 417 pp.
* {{Cite book
* Bernt P. Stigum (1990). ''Toward a Formal Science of Economics''. MIT Press
* Marcus Tomalin (2006), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=XbjFag2qCygC Linguistics and the Formal Sciences]''. Cambridge University Press
* William L. Twining (1997). ''Law in Context: Enlarging a Discipline''. 365 pp.

==External links==
* [http://www.math.uni-bonn.de/people/fotfs/ Interdisciplinary conferences — ''Foundations of the Formal Sciences'']

[[Category:Formal sciences| ]]
[[Category:Branches of science]]

{{Sourceattribution|Formal science}}