Development of Natural History

The subject of natural science is facts and phenomena that are perceived by our senses. The scientist's task is to generalize these facts and create a theoretical model that includes the laws governing the phenomena of nature. We should distinguish the facts of experience, empirical generalizations and theories that formulate the laws of science. Phenomena, such as gravitation, are directly given in experience; laws of science, such as the law of gravitation - variants of explanation of phenomena. The facts of science, once established, retain their constant meaning; laws can be changed in the course of the development of science, as, for example, the law of gravity was corrected after the creation of the theory of relativity. The importance of feelings and reason in finding truth is a complex philosophical question. Science recognizes the truth as evidenced by reproducible experience. The basic principle of natural science is that knowledge about nature should allow for empirical verification. Not in the sense that every private statement must necessarily be empirically verified, but that experience is ultimately the decisive argument for accepting this theory.