Scimat (Science Matters) is the new discipline that treats all human-dependent matters as part of science, wherein, humans (the material system of Homo sapiens) are studied scientifically from the perspective of complex systems. Scimat covers all the topics in the humanities and social sciences. Science is a subset of human activities aiming to understand how Nature—consisting of the human system and all nonhuman systems—works without bringing in God or any supernatural. Science thus has two parts: the scientific process and the scientific results. The scientific process is a human-dependent matter and is part of scimat.
This book All About Science focuses on the human-dependent part of science from the perspective of scimat. There is a lot of confusion and misconception concerning Science. The nature and contents of science is an unsettled problem. For example, Thales of 2,600 years ago is recognized as the father of science but the word science was introduced only in the 14th century; the definition of science is often avoided in books about philosophy of science. This book aims to clear up all these confusions and present new developments in the philosophy, history, sociology and communication of science—the four humanities disciplines related to Science. It also aims to showcase the achievement of China’s top scholars in these areas. The 18 chapters, divided into five parts, are written by 16 eminent humanists and scientists including the Nobel laureate Robin Warren, sociologist Harry Collins, and physicist-turned-historian Dietrich Stauffer. The book aims at humanists, social and “natural” scientists, and laypeople who are interested in science.
