Empirical limits in science

The empirical limits in science relate to limits of sensation, perception and conceptualisation amongst human beings. In the philosophy of science, empirical limits define problems with observation, and thus are limits of the human ability to inquire and answer questions about phenomena. The empirical limits in science also relate to epistemology when rationalising other ways of attaining knowledge beyond, or in addition to, empiricism. Science does not prove but rather supports with empirical evidence and the scientific method allows for repeatability, improvement and replacement of conclusions made. If an observation is made enough times, it may become a Scientific fact which can lose favour if different observations are made.
Limits of sensation
Empirical scientific discovery relies primarily on the 5 senses: sight, smell, touch, hearing and taste. These senses have upper and lower boundaries beyond which external perception is limited or obsolete. These boundaries differ between organisms but there is an emphasis on human sensory limits in science as human senses are predominantly utilised for scientific discovery. The empirical limits in science relate to the limits of human sensation. The perception of visible light can be inconsistent between human beings, particularly in those with colour-blindness, where individuals have difficulty differentiating between certain colours. The ability to detect contrast is also variable between human beings and this limits the consistency in qualitative findings made by scientists. Visual acuity, colour discrimination and contrast sensitivity decrease with age in human beings.
Electromagnetic radiation beyond visible light is not usually detectable by the human eye and this limits scientific discovery using the human eye alone. infrared spectroscope and Ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometer, have enabled increases in visual acuity and increased the range of electromagnetic radiation that can be detected and measured. The upper limit of audible frequency detectable decreases with age. Sounds may be perceivable by the ear but at a loudness level which causes discomfort limiting the amplitude of sound experimented with in scientific investigations.
For individuals with hearing impairments, devices such as the cochlear implant have enabled the preservation and restoration of hearing. This preservation of hearing enables individuals with hearing difficulties to make observations and contribute to scientific discovery. The issue of discomfort or progressive hearing loss caused by loud sound is controlled by circuits built within the cochlea implant which stop the projection of sound past 130 dB. Tactile acuity differs between parts of the body and amongst individuals. The threshold of tactile acuity is dependent on the site of the body being used (to touch) and the number and size of receptive fields in that region of the body. With aging comes a decrease in human tactile acuity. Tactile acuity is closely related to visual perception. Individuals with partial loss of visual perception or whose visual perception is interrupted have difficulties correlating tactile acuity and actions conducted by their own body. The nature of senses such as touch being linked to other senses demonstrates that a limit to one sense may limit other senses as in the case of sight and touch.
Smell
As with the other senses, olfaction differs amongst human beings. The threshold of olfaction is the smallest amount of odorant which can be smelt by the human nose. The olfactory bulb is relatively large, in humans, when compared to other mammals and it is predicted that humans can detect over one trillion odours.
The way to describe different smells is shown to be limited through tests in the English language. This is not necessarily the case in other languages which may even incorporate odour into the grammar of the language.
Taste
The sense of taste is not used in all scientific investigations, generally due to its inapplicability to the aims of the experiment being conducted or as a safety precaution. Taste is a sense which has been investigated to a lesser extent compared to the other human senses. Differences in taste sensitivity in human beings could be because of variations in the number of taste buds present on the human tongue.
Scientiifc investigations within the food and beverage industry use the sense of taste to maintain quality control, edibility and customer satisfaction.Taste can be described qualitatively but can also be measured quantitatively using methods such as chemogustometry on a scale where taste is described as "sweet, salty, sour bitter"; some grading scales also add "umami." Due the risk of utilising taste in scientific investigations, scientists look to chemical methods of testing how human like cells will react with chemicals manufactured for consumption. The limitation of using in vitro models is that they do not replicate the interactions of all types of cells within the human body. Empirical scientific discovery is subject to perceptual limitations. A philosophical internalist may disagree with the notion that perception is a limitation as an internalist would believe perception is something which is internally derived rather than externally influenced. For empirical scientific discovery, perception is considered external or extrinsic and detached from prior knowledge or conceptualisation. According to empirical science something perceived, exists and can be isolated or observed indirectly. The main observations which lead to this geocentric model were the perception of an unmoving earth and the observance of both sun and moon once a day. From the late 16th century onwards, with observations such as the orbit of Mars following technological advancements, the predominant position was changed and a heliocentric model was widely accepted in the west. In these Visio-tactile investigations the closer the rubber hand gets to the individual the more likely it is to elicit a perceived sensation when touched synergistically with the individuals uncovered hand.
Conceptual limitations
There are scientific concepts that cross many specialties, such as gravity, genes, cells and evolution, which can be different in conceptualisation depending on the specialist being consulted. For example, the gene concept is one such common idea which can be thought of both at a molecular level (genotypically) and through its apparent effect (phenotypically). In one study, a group of evolutionary biologists were asked to complete a series of tasks involving the gene concept which they preferred doing using the genotypic conceptualisation of the gene.A separate group of molecular biologists were asked to perform the same tasks and they preferred completing them utilising the phenotypic conceptualisation of the gene.
Epistemology and science
The empirical limits in science also relate to epistemology: the use of various methods to find knowledge or meaning.
Schools of thought, such as rationalism, argue that scientific conclusions can be made without the use of empiricism. Rationalism proposes that human beings can follow premises despite not having complete knowledge of topics being discussed; known as deductive reasoning. An example of deductive reasoning is:
“All men are mortal; Socrates is a man, therefore Socrates is mortal”
Empiricism is not used to conclude “Socrates is mortal”, while they may hypothesise based on prior knowledge, in both instances without using empiricism alone.<ref name":21" /><ref name":22" />

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