Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes
knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the
universe. In an older and closely related meaning, "science" refers
to the body of reliable knowledge itself, of the type that can be logically and
rationally explained. Since classical antiquity science as a type of knowledge
was closely linked to philosophy.
In the early modern era the words
"science" and "philosophy" were sometimes used
interchangeably in the English language.[citation needed] By the 17th century,
natural philosophy was considered a separate branch of philosophy. However,
"science" continued to be used in a broad sense denoting reliable
knowledge about a topic, in the same way it is still used in modern terms such
as library science or political science.
