Editorial

A vital experience between science and philosophy

Rubiel Alberto Chica Rios*

How to cite this article in APA:

Bernal Zuluaga, H. A. (2022). A vital experience between science and philosophy [Editorial]. Poiésis, (42), 13-15.

https://doi.org/10.21501/16920945.4351

Should doctoral students in psychology know the philosophical thought and values of science? To help find the answer to this question, we will begin by saying that philosophy and science must always be related, and neither can deny the other. For each one to make sense and to be able to give value to its postulates, it must use what each one has to contribute when it comes to explaining the phenomena that can be revealed through science and those that only have a place in human thought and experience.

In this sense, philosophy must be united today to science. Science helps us understand how things are, not how they seem to us or we would like them to be, and therefore it is, in the long term, more immune to our preconceptions (Azcárraga, 2003).

The human being is always in relationships with others and with the nature surrounding him. Moreover, to understand both, one must always combine the philosophical and scientific perspective that allows one to relate, understand, and better use this interaction for mutual benefit.

Although science presupposes methods of comparison, observation, analysis, and demonstration, and philosophy navigates more on the subjective and rhetorical plane, it is no less accurate that science requires philosophy to understand, interpret and rationalize the findings that science is capable of showing.

Philosophy offers the possibility of connecting reason and demonstrability with what is outside the scope of explanation. Also, it is a method to try to rationalize what science is not capable of demonstrating or can only theorize, allowing to fill gaps in which man is constantly forced to continue looking for answers and logical explanations. Thus, theory and practice are reconciled, what is dreamed and what becomes a reality. They are complementary, never exclusive.

Due to the above, it is considered that science and philosophy are vital in our educational process. They will give us greater clarity between the scientific, human and social dimensions and help us to better understand the nature of knowledge.

By having greater clarity of the social dimension, we can better understand science and philosophy because it teaches us to see the human and the spiritual in education, thus showing us a more special meaning with the social.

The significant part of the nature of science and philosophy is that it shows us in our senses the essential objective that is scientific knowledge, being this clear, exact, and precise (Pérez, 2020). We could not determine with certainty what is first or most important. However, we can think of the science-philosophy relationship as a circular and inclusive entity in which a philosophical postulate can be investigated to be demonstrated through science. Once it is explained through science, science must intervene again to corroborate (or deny) a postulate, propose an ethical or moral implication, or give human meaning to what was thought impossible.

Those who oppose this idea say that the social dimension with human nature that knowledge can have is not viable. However, this is not true. The discussion raised by the antagonists is not very clear because the social and the natural will always be present in knowledge.

It is also prudent to consider that both philosophy and science should be outside any religious conditioning since, in essence, both are guarantors of humanity’s universal thought and reasoning that must be inclusive, conclusive, and transparent. Each individual will then be able to give fair value to these reasonings based on their own beliefs and way of seeing reality based on their personal experience.

This is why science is one of the human intellect’s greatest and most amazing triumphs. So the fundamental question is whether our brain, large but limited in the end, is potentially capable of finding the theory of everything. (Azcarraga, 2003).

In conclusion, doctoral students in psychology must know the philosophical thought and values of science because, as Augusto Comte says, knowing is to foresee. When the laws to which phenomena obey are known, facts can be foreseen, and events predicted (Prada, 1994), helping us have a vital experience between science and philosophy, questioning everything with the proper orientation to give it a human and social value to science through philosophy.

Furthermore, as doctoral students in psychology, we must aim to have a more social, cultural, and community learning and analysis so that scientific knowledge is more humanized. Everyone can understand what is being communicated to them and enjoy building knowledge together.

We must continue to build knowledge by understanding this vital experience between science and philosophy, where we become more passionate about research and scientific knowledge.

Conflict of interests

The author declares the non-existence of conflict of interest with an institution or commercial association of any kind.

References

Azcarraga, J. (2003). Science and philosophy. University of Valencia.

Perez, L. (2020). Philosophy of science. University of Baja California.

Prada, B. (1994). Philosophy of science and values. UIS.

Author notes

Rubiel Alberto Chica Ríos

Doctorando en Psicología, psicólogo, Universidad Católica Luis Amigó. Director de salud mental y director operativo de Canadian Human Rights International Organization (CHRIO), sede Medellín-Colombia. Contacto: rubielchica@gmail.com