Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas A&M University ; Computational Biology Division, Translational Genomics Research Institute.
Curr Genomics. 2012 Nov;13(7):574-87. doi: 10.2174/138920212803251445.
Scientific knowledge is grounded in a particular epistemology and, owing to the requirements of that epistemology, possesses limitations. Some limitations are intrinsic, in the sense that they depend inherently on the nature of scientific knowledge; others are contingent, depending on the present state of knowledge, including technology. Understanding limitations facilitates scientific research because one can then recognize when one is confronted by a limitation, as opposed to simply being unable to solve a problem within the existing bounds of possibility. In the hope that the role of limiting factors can be brought more clearly into focus and discussed, we consider several sources of limitation as they apply to biological knowledge: mathematical complexity, experimental constraints, validation, knowledge discovery, and human intellectual capacity.
科学知识建立在特定的认识论基础上，由于这种认识论的要求，科学知识具有一定的局限性。有些局限性是内在的，因为它们本质上取决于科学知识的性质；有些局限性是偶然的，取决于当前的知识状态，包括技术。了解局限性有助于科学研究，因为人们可以在面对局限性时认识到这一点，而不是仅仅因为在现有可能性的范围内无法解决问题。为了更清楚地阐明和讨论限制因素的作用，我们考虑了生物学知识所适用的几种限制来源：数学复杂性、实验限制、验证、知识发现和人类智力能力。
