Science is an open-ended inquiry into nature, constrained only by the phenomena of nature itself.
Historiê peri physeos (inquiry concerning nature) is later used to refer specifically to the inquiry into nature practiced by the Presocratic cosmologists, but Herodotus' usage shows that at Heraclitus' time historiê referred to inquiry in a quite general sense and has no specific reference to the cosmological inquiry of the Presocratics (Huffman 2008b).
Aristotle (384 322 B.C.E) disagreed, locating the Forms in the natural world as the fundamental principles to be discovered through the inquiry into nature.
In Book IV of the Essay, Locke reaches the putative heart of his inquiry, the nature and extent of human knowledge.
In the Prior and Posterior Analytics, Aristotle reflects first on the aims and then the methods of inquiry into nature.
First, there is the tradition of inquiry into nature founded by the Milesians, and carried on by Xenophanes (Mourelatos 2008b) and by Heraclitus (recent discussion in Graham 2008).
Natural religion or theology, on the present understanding, is not limited to empirical inquiry into nature, and it is not wedded to a pantheistic result.
From the Phaedo, for example, we learn that the so-called "inquiry into nature" consisted in a search for "the causes of each thing; why each thing comes into existence, why it goes out of existence, why it exists" (96 a 6 10).
When I learned that Sesame Workshop was partnering with the National Park Service, the National Park Foundation, Grand Canyon National Park, and Gateway National Recreation Area to produce videos and activities free of charge to inspire exploration and inquiry in nature and parks, I couldn't have been more excited.
Because our interest was the quality and comprehensiveness of genetics content in the state standards, we did not develop benchmarks (or analyze standards) related to noncontent understandings or abilities, such as inquiry, the nature of science, or system standards.
