What is Science?

Try making a list all the things you know. You will soon give up — the task would be endless. But even a partial list will show that you have different kinds of knowledge.

For example: you know that just now you are sitting down, or standing, or walking across the room. You know the furnishings and the colour of the paintwork. You know what music is playing on the radio. You know, perhaps, that it is a cool day outside but warm in the house, and that you are thirsty. These are immediate, direct sensations.

You went to Benidorm on holiday last summer. A friend told you an amusing story yesterday evening. You once fell downstairs when you were four years old. One of your secondary school teachers had a face like a terrapin. You know all these things because you have a memory, a gigantic store of past experiences. You remember them.