Abstract：The essence of natural philosophy is an overall, abstract and general explanation of nature, which can not be strictly tested within man's experience. The essence of science is a concrete, precise and classificatory explanation of nature, which can be strictly tested within man's experience. But in the ancient times man's experiences were unsystematic, imprecise, partial and non-directional, and therefore were unable to test strictly the second type of explanations in many cases because of the form and level of practice. So, in the ancient times science and natural philosophy could not be differentiated from each other. But the emerging of experiment method enabled man to obtain systematic, precise, overall and directional experiences, which could be strictly tested. Therefore science became independent from natural philosophy. The independence of science indicated that proper methods were of paramount importance to scientific research.
钱兆华, 唐超. 从自然哲学到科学的发展及其启示[J]. 江苏大学学报（社会科学版）, 2013, 15(4): 69-72.
QIAN Zhao-Hua, TANG Chao. The Development from Natural Philosophy to Science and Its Enlightenment. Journal of Jiangsu University（Social Science Editi, 2013, 15(4): 69-72.
2013, Vol. 15 
