A scientific knowledge has the following characteristics:
(i) It is verifiable or replicable. It means that die propositions or Statements of the science can be tested or verified by further experiments, tests or observations. A scientific law has a high degree of probability: it will be confirmed by further experiments, or observations by other scientists. It is a generalisation of facts. Therefore if a new fact ‘disproves it, it will cease to be a scientific law. In other words, scientific knowledge is based on probability, not certainty.
It is systematic: Various parts of a scientific proposition or law have a logical structure or pattern, which means that they have significant relationship with each other. It is die quality of consistency: one part cannot be inconsistent with die other part of a scientific Statement. “The ideal of science is to achieve a systematic interconnection of facts.” There are no irrelevant facts in a scientific proposition. It is this characteristic which makes science a systematic knowledge.
(ii) Scientific knowledge has generality: Science explains general, not particular or individual, facts. It is a generalisation of facts. Hence it enables us to explain new facts. It enables us to predict what a thing or phenomenon will be the next time it occurs. The aim of science is to form such generalisation or laws which make explanation and prediction possible to the maximum extent.
(iii) Scientific knowledge has objectivity: Scientific knowledge is a Statement of facts, which can be objectively verified by further experiment or observation by anyone at any place and at any time, present or future. From this comes its fifth quality.
(iv) Science is a dynamic, not static, knowledge: It means that scientific knowledge is constantly developing. It is a kind of knowledge that makes further knowledge possible. If new facts are discovered, they may (i) disprove an old scientific law, which is then discarded and a new law is searched for, or (ii) extend an established generalisation to new facts and thus make it more comprehensive and explanatory. “Science” writes Collingwood, “does not consist in collecting what we already know and arranging it in this or that kind of pattern. It consists in fastening upon something we do not know, and trying to discover it. Science is finding things out” Hence science needs observation and experiment constantly; dial is to say, it always needs research or search for new facts. It means new discoveries, new facts and new laws.