Factual or factual sciences are those that deal with the factual (from factum , the Latin word for “facts”) or tangible verification of their hypotheses and premises , based on observation and experimentation, that is, the reproduction of a series of conditions to obtain a predictable result.
For this reason, they depend on empirical content that must be able to be confirmed through experience: such verifiability is key to distinguishing them from other sciences .
They are distinguished from formal or pure sciences (such as logic and mathematics) in that the latter focus more on procedures (forms) than on content (facts). Furthermore, factual sciences employ the scientific method for their research, while formal sciences employ the inductive logical method.
In turn, the factual sciences are divided into natural sciences (those that deal with the relationships existing in the universe and that do not include human intervention) and social sciences (dedicated to the study of the relationships that govern the world of human beings).
- See also: Natural sciences in everyday life
Examples of factual sciences
- Biology, responsible for the study of life in its various variants and possibilities, which covers all types of living beings, from bacteria and protozoan forms to higher animals, including humans.
- Physics, responsible for the study of the laws of nature , in its various variables and possibilities, from applied physics to astrophysics.
- Chemistry, whose object of study is the constitution and transformation of matter in its various levels and reactions.
- Psychology, responsible for studying the internal functioning mechanisms of the human mind : its constitutive and evolutionary processes, its possible structures, etc.
- Social psychology, which studies the way in which the human psyche structures its forms of collectivity and relationships of influence and emotional, symbolic and affective reciprocity.
- Sociology, interested in the study of human groups and collectives, or of human society as a whole: its formation processes and internal struggles, always within the historical-social context in which they are inserted.
- Economicsis the science that focuses on understanding the processes of wealth generation, production, distribution and consumption of goods in human society, whether within the framework of the forms of trade of a country or a given region or as a whole, in which case it is called Economic Theory.
- Political science, also known as political science or political theory, focuses primarily on political activity and its various aspects and formations. This includes systems of government , social forms and behaviors related to power, and the various possible systems of human organization.
- Sexology, whose specific focus is the anatomical (biological) and cultural study of human sexual behavior and practices.
- Geologyis the study of the Earth’s composition and internal structure, as well as the evolutionary processes that have shaped it over geological time. It comprises a collection of geosciences that examine plate tectonics, as well as planetary geology or astrogeology.
- Law, also known as Law or Legal Sciences, encompasses the study of the constitution of the normative and institutional order of the apparatus of human jurisprudence; that is, the legislative structures that allow for the resolution of human conflicts in a fair, consensual, and equitable manner. It also studies the historical composition of different legal regimes, as well as the philosophy that underpins them and the relationships between them.
- History, a discipline whose object of study is the past of the human species and whose method is typical of the so-called social sciences. There is debate as to whether history is a social science or a humanistic science, but current trends prefer to include it in the former group of disciplines.
- Anthropology, understood as the science that studies the human being from a comprehensive perspective, employing a combination of tools and knowledge from the various natural and social sciences, seeking to encompass both the biological evolution of our species, as well as its ways of life and the varied cultural and linguistic expressions that characterize it in its complexity.
- Human geographystudies human societies from a spatial perspective, that is, emphasizing the relationship between societies and their physical environments. Thus, various cultural landscapes and human regions are established, which contribute to the spatial diagnosis of our presence on the planet.
- Paleontology, a natural science whose study regime includes the interpretation of the different fossil records, based on methods and foundations closely shared with biology and geology, sister disciplines.
