SCIENCE: -- "observational science" vs "historical science" vs ... science.

Ken Ham in his debate with Bill Nye said we need to break science into two parts

1. "Observational Science" -- where scientific experiments can be conducted in real time with testable predictions, etc etc ... referring to the application of the scientific method through the use of our senses and what we can measure, etc, and
2. "Historical Science" -- where experiments cannot be conducted in the past and thus cannot be properly tested ... and therefore -- according to creationists -- the scientific method cannot be used and results\observations cannot be taken as evidence.

And he wants us to discard "historical science" because "you weren't there"Or something like that (feel free to correct me if I have misrepresented this).So what is real science and do these two distinctions above really apply to sciences like paleontology and geology?

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Science (from Latin scientia, meaning "knowledge"[1]) is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. ...

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In modern usage, "science" most often refers to a way of pursuing knowledge, not only the knowledge itself. It is also often restricted to those branches of study that seek to explain the phenomena of the material universe. ...

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Certainty and science

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A scientific theory is empirical, and is always open to falsification if new evidence is presented. That is, no theory is ever considered strictly certain as science accepts the concept of fallibilism. ...

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Scientific method - Wikipedia

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The scientific method is a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge.[1] To be termed scientific, a method of inquiry must be based on empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning. ...

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The chief characteristic which distinguishes the scientific method from other methods of acquiring knowledge is that scientists seek to let reality speak for itself, supporting a theory when a theory's predictions are confirmed and challenging a theory when its predictions prove false. Although procedures vary from one field of inquiry to another, identifiable features distinguish scientific inquiry from other methods of obtaining knowledge. ...

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Edited by RAZD, : ..Edited by RAZD, : per comment

I don't think you can characterize historical science as an invention of creationists, see for example the paper cited by Roxrkool, Geological reasoning: Geology as an interpretive and historical science.--Percy

understood. the part for the creationists is the "you weren't there" precept.now revised for clarityEdited by RAZD, : .

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