Natural Science

Disciplines that study the physical and biological world through observation, experiment and measurement, here represented mainly by fields intersecting the history of science and the natural phenomena esoteric and religious traditions have long tried to explain: chemistry, astronomy and their historical antecedents. Belongs here: any discipline whose claims are tested against physical evidence. Does not belong here: the interpretive study of texts and belief, grouped under Humanities; the study of society and behavior, grouped under Social Science; discipline built on abstract formal systems with no empirical test, grouped under Formal Science.