Problems with the Precise Treatment of Imprecise “Givens”

What makes a science a science? Theories of science provide criteria that are either very abstract and difficult to apply or are as trivial as, say, “Science consists of what scientists write in journals that are accepted by scientists as being scientific journals” or “Acting as a scientist means not disregarding any of the rules of the scientific game” (Seiffert and Radnitzky 1989). If these definitions are accepted at face value, it follows that a “science” can be described by: its rules, i.e., the body of methods used the kind of propositions it yields