Formal Sciences

Formal sciences are disciplines based on formal systems. These include logic, mathematics, and the theoretical fields of information theory, statistics, and computer science. Also included in the formal sciences are such areas as game theory, decision theory, and some areas of linguistics. Formal sciences use a priori, as opposed to empirical, methodology. Major advances in formal science have often led to major advances in the empirical sciences. The formal sciences are essential in the formation of hypotheses, theories, and laws and help us discover how things work, how people think and act.

Formal sciences are often considered the third branch of science, alongside natural science and social science. They came into existence long before the formulation of scientific method, since we know of mathematical texts dating back to ancient times. These include texts relating to Babylonian mathematics from around 1800 B.C.E, from Egyptian mathematics dating from around 1600 B.C.E., and examples of Indian mathematics dating back to around 1000 B.C.E. Other cultures have added their input along the way, including the Greeks and Islamists, as well as the Chinese and Japanese, who worked independently from one another.

Hundreds of years later, a branch of formal science called logic came into being. Like mathematics, logic originated from multiple cultures and methods. The first record of logic arose in India in the 6th century B.C.E., followed by China in the 5th century B.C.E. Modern logic originated from Greece and then Islam. It was during the 17th century C.E. that mathematics reached its zenith, with the earliest studies of probability theory. Formal science in the modern world is now used in engineering, computer science, and many other disciplines.

This entry describes how the formal sciences developed, starting with the backbone of all the formal sciences, mathematics, and its various branches. Then the foundations of logic as a formal science, and its development, are examined and discussed the ways in which formal sciences are helping to shape the modern world.