The Science Of The Signs

In the passage from “The Great Influenza,” by John M. Barry, he characterizes scientific research through the utilization of figurative language, organization, and rhetorical appeals. Barry asserts us that a scientist’s notion and beliefs can easily be undermined by uncertainty, while certainty can enhance their experimental views and confidence. Throughout this excerpt, Barry uses rhetorical devices to explain the qualities of scientists that enable them to achieve higher levels of success.

Positivism originated with August Comte. It was considered a philosophical approach that replaced speculation with science. Positivist theorists believe

about our fellow human-beings and led to a more scientific approach to theory creating theory by engaging with people, learning about them, and being out in the field.

The development of the scientific method in the late 1500’s to the early 1600’s was a crucial stepping-stone in the science community. The scientific method is based upon observations, hypotheses and experimentation. The concept is rather simple, and can be applied to many areas of study. Once an observation is made, the observer can make a hypothesis as to why that phenomenon occurs and can then design an experiment to prove whether or not that hypotheses is valid. Although the scientific method has been extremely useful in the discovery of various things from usages of medications to studying animal behavior, there are still those who question the usage of this tool. These critics claim that since

Positivism or more specifically, logical positivism, is “maintained that science is value free, independent of the scientist, and obtained using objective methods” (McEwen & Wills, 2007, p.8). This leads to no biased interpretation of the data. In summary, objectivity and facts are the basis of received view.

Since the 17th century, the scientific method has served as a memorable procedure for its ability to characterize aspects of natural science. Its reliance on sense and reason allowed it to become the backbone of research for scientists, meant to make the unknown into something better understood and explored. Even still, this tried and true method cannot be deemed completely concrete. In his passage from The Great Influenza, John M. Barry utilizes various rhetorical devices in his process of characterizing scientific research, to demonstrate the similarities between scientists and the early pioneers.

In the late 1800’s, university included department of social sciences where people studied human behavior. If a problem arises, people would study it, develop a theory for it, collect data and various related information and see if it worked. We see that, people are following the scientific way of solving the problems. The society was highly influenced by the idea of using scientific way. This is one of the belief/ reform of the progressives. The reform focused on solving the social/national problems like poverty where people worked scientifically and cooperatively. In this case, government hired professionals to investigate particular cases and form a theory and apply the solutions.

Throughout Signs Preceeding the End of the World, Herrera uses the verb “to verse” to describe physical crossings. But, there is a theme of psychological crossings throughout the novella. During Makina’s journey to deliver a note to her brother, she experiences a mental journey in which she moves from a sense of certainty to uncertainty. Her home is a place of familiarity and assurance, but the trip to The United States is anything except assuring. Makina verses throughout the novella on her journey, but the novella itself is a transgressive work through the culture of the border town.

Another conspicuity, besides the circles function as “inspirer”, was that “By the turn of the 19th century, it was common knowledge among the educated classes that scientists were trying to fathom the

The humanistic thought that scientific discoveries should be backed up by substantial evidence brought about many firm theories

Unlike inductivists, falsificationists believe that there is no way to conclusively prove that a theory is true. Consequently, they will resist stating that they’ve proved a theory to be true. Instead, falsificationists will consider a theory to be true so long as it has not been proven to be false. Unlike the strict five-step process held by the inductivist account of science, falsificationists hold that scientific progress comes about “by trial and error, by conjectures and refutations” (Chalmers 60). In the falsificationist picture, theory change happens constantly, and this process is what constitutes scientific progress. “It can never be said of a theory that it is true, however well it has withstood rigorous tests, but it can hopefully be said that a current theory is superior to its predecessors in the sense that it is able to withstand tests that falsified those predecessors” (Chalmers

The essential impression behind a sociotechnical system refers to the interrelatedness that humans, which are the social aspect of the term, and non-humans, which are the technical aspect of the term, have networks between each other. It is how a human interacts with the particular technology and in conjunction how technology inscribes

p a r a d i g m a n d t h e i n d u c t ive a

The social constructivist theory is another significant feature when arguing about the society and the way it produces various views on the modern system as it expresses in its basic assumptions that the natural world has a little and non-existent role in the development of scientific knowledge.

Positivism is a rigorous and formal way to collect and analyze data that was developed around the 1960’s by Auguste Comte (1798-1857) who is also credited with formalizing it. Studies are clear and straight forward and researchers believe that there is only one method that all sciences should rely on. Positivism believes