Maria (and I) propose the following explanation:
Descriptive sciences are all the sciences that collect, observe,
describe phenomena and find straightforward correlations between them
without a particular scientific hypothesis in mind. Empirical sciences
aim to explain the observed phenomena and to draw hypothetical
conclusions about their behavior and their relationships under given
circumstances. Since the argumentation and inference making in both
sciences are based on observation of the sensory data, they can be
considered as “empirical sciences” in a wider sense. In this
perspective, the sciences that perform experiments to test their
conclusions about the observed phenomena can be regarded as a
subcategory of “empirical sciences”. Thus, according to our view
descriptive and empirical sciences are not competitive but complementary.
Best,
Martin
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Dr. Martin Doerr | Vox:+30(2810)391625 |
Research Director | Fax:+30(2810)391638 |
| Email: [email protected] |
|
Center for Cultural Informatics |
Information Systems Laboratory |
Institute of Computer Science |
Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH) |
|
N.Plastira 100, Vassilika Vouton, |
GR70013 Heraklion,Crete,Greece |
|
Web-site: http://www.ics.forth.gr/isl |
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