Evolution of science II: Insights into working of Nature

Abstract

We attempt to provide a comprehensive model of evolution of science across millennia taking into account the contributions of other intellectual traditions, cultural value system and increasing in sophistication of humans in their study of nature. We also briefly discuss the role of technology and its interplay in the evolution of science. We identify five primary approaches to the study of nature, namely ad hoc formulations, religious approach, pragmatic approach, axiomatic approach and the logic based approach. Each of these approaches have had their prime periods and have contributed significantly to human understanding of nature and have also overlapped within a society. Each approach has had a central role over human evolution at some stage. We surmise that the currently dominant axiomatic method will reach its limits due to complexity of the system and may never be fully formalised. We suggest that the future progress of science will more be a logic based approach where experimentation and simulations rather than axiomatic firmness will be used to test our understanding of nature.