What kind of questions can science NOT answer?

Answer 1

Science is the application of strict procedures to quantify (observe and measure) all manner of events such as physical forces, human behavior, chemical reactions and biological processes. Hence, science is unable to answer questions where the subject matter cannot be quantified - but even those questions are eventually answered as methods are invented to observe and measure the subject matter.

In its short history, science was once unable to answer questions such as: "what is the wind?" - thought to be the breath of gods until the measurement of matter was developed.

So, although science cannot yet answer many lingering questions about ourselves and our world, it is only because we have yet to invent a way of observing the subject matter - and not because certain questions are "unanswerable" or "unknowable".

Answer 2

There are many questions that science cannot answer, such as the following:

• Many questions about ethics and morality
• Many questions about relationships and other things that depend on context
• Many questions about motivation
• Many questions about the cause of or cure for many diseases
• Many questions about religion
• Many questions about whether there is other intelligent life in the universe
• Many questions about what will happen in the future
• Many questions about how electrons seemingly travel through nuclei
• Many questions of whether faster than light travel is possible

Also billions of others. The wiser we become, the more we realize just how much we don't know. This isn't to say that people might not be able to apply a scientific method and learn these things in the future. Just for now, we can't.

Answer 3

Science cannot answer questions that contain the immeasurable. In other words, the question must contain quantifiable, finite components.

Answer 4

Questions that are not factual (eg religious questions).