Let’s talk about a phenomenon first. Although the craze for Chinese studies has been going on for many years, some people still say when they hear "The Book of Changes": You are superstitious. In the 21st century, we only believe in science. In fact, including myself, I have been confused for many years. So, I looked up the definitions of “superstition” and “science.” You won’t know if you don’t look it up, and you’ll be shocked if you look it up. There are countless definitions of both. In other words, the definition of the two has not yet been determined. So I believe that many people have long been unable to distinguish between what is superstition and what is science. Below I quote a few explanations for reference:
Superstition: Superstition refers to a state of obsession and trust in things, and confused belief; it also refers to blind belief and belief without understanding. The essential definition is to believe something you shouldn't believe. People's positions vary, and the content of their alleged superstitions varies. Superstition specifically refers to human beings' worship and belief in supernatural powers. It is an illusory and distorted response to the objective world and a manifestation of ignorance and backwardness. Believing after seeing magical phenomena, but not understanding the inner profound truth is called superstition. Superstition refers to the irrational belief that a certain behavior or ritual has magical effects. It is blind faith and worship of people or things. Superstition in the narrow sense is feudal superstition. In a broad sense, superstition should include religious beliefs, because any religious belief is a manifestation of superstition.
Science means learning by subject, and later refers to the study of various knowledge through refined classification (such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, etc.) to form a gradually complete knowledge system. It is a knowledge about discovery, invention, creation and practice. It is a general term for the knowledge system for human exploration, research and understanding of the laws of change of all things in the universe. It is specific things and their objective rules, specific seeking truth from facts, a lot of practical experience, and empirical learning. The main content of science is a specific world view and specific methods. Science is not belief, but evidence. It is an attitude, perspective, and method! At the same time, scientific things themselves have paradoxes! In other words, things from different professional disciplines can easily be confused and considered to be contradictory! It is produced and developed to meet the needs of people's production struggle and class struggle. It is the crystallization of people's practical experience.
The word science, in English, is science, which originates from the Latin word scio, and later evolved into scientin, and finally became the way it is written today. Its original meaning is "knowledge" and "learning". Science is a tool for humans to understand the world. Science itself is not the truth. He needs three conditions: it can be falsified, it can be verified through experiments, and it satisfies Occam's razor principle. There is really no point in continuing to quote it, because so far no one has given a clear definition of "superstition" and "science", and everyone has always had their own opinions.
The conceptual definitions of what is “science” and what is “superstition” are vague, so how can we distinguish whether our thinking and behavior are superstitious or scientific?