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Scientific method definition importance scientific objectivity

Without science, we would not have reached the current level of development. Thanks to the scientific method, humanity has created great medical and technological advances , and even the field of psychology, an aspect of reality that seemed too confusing and ambiguous to be analyzed, has developed to the point where it allows us to know well what is behind it. our actions and thoughts. In this article we will give you the definition of Scientific method.

How important is the scientific method?

However, what is the real reason why science is so prestigious? Where exactly is your worth? And why is it necessary to use the scientific method for science to progress?

I’ll try to shed some light on the matter at hand, starting at the root of the problem: the birth of science .

The origins of science and its epistemology

During the 6th century, in Ionia (a part of ancient Greece located in present-day Turkey), a world full of mysteries was presented to the Hellenes. The starting point was a situation of almost total uncertainty, but little by little, from the observation of nature, ideas of an orderly and rational universe, capable of being analyzed , emerged .

At first, a good part of the Greeks believed that reality was formed by a little-known matter, governed by the action of equal and opposite forces that remained in dramatic struggle, always remaining in an eternal equilibrium. primitive (or protoscience , because more than the experiment theorized) properly Greek.

The Renaissance brings the paradigm shift

It was not until the 16th century, with the arrival of the Renaissance in Europe, when a qualitative leap in technical-scientific knowledge began, which would culminate in the 18th century with the Enlightenment .

In this scientific revolution, many medieval prejudices that had been dragging on (some) since ancient times were abandoned, and a concrete and effective method to discover the truth was consolidated: the scientific method, which would allow to examine all aspects of nature in the best possible way. possible .

And why “scientist”?

Science and its method were not achieved by chance, but by survival . Primitive human civilization has always been challenged by large-scale Hecatombs (wars, floods, epidemics, etc.) that required a protocol that would give us reliability in the production of new knowledge, in order to face these adversities satisfactorily.

Thanks to the scientific method, we can abandon the eternal paralysis produced by not understanding what happens or what can happen in the future, because we start to have good reasons to think that something is false or true … although, ironically, doubt is part of the method scientific and skeptical spirit that accompanies it. In the words of American physicist Robert Oppenheimer:

“A scientist should be free to raise any doubt, doubt any claim, correct errors.”

The role of the brain

But it’s not just catastrophes that cause the scientific method. One of the reasons for its birth is none other than our ability to reason, a miracle of evolution that allows us to avoid and resolve logical errors, cognitive biases and errors of perception. In short, we can see the logic of things because our brains are structured in a way that allows us to examine premises and arguments for consistency and consistency in them.

However, as we are relatively instinctive and emotional animals, the level of cognitive skills needed to be an absolute skeptic and rational (someone who knows how to recognize and perfectly order ideas and theories to detect defects in them) is impossible even for the most educated and intelligent people. That’s why science is, in part, a shared project based on the consensus of many experts and specialists who offer their different points of view.

the scientific procedure

From the above, it follows that science is not made by four geniuses or clarified individually (the opposite would be to make scientific knowledge depend entirely on a fallacy of authority ). Rather, it is the result of collective cooperation: the so-called scientific community .

Scientific knowledge is built on the previous one, investing decades of research throughout which several experiments are carried out (the double-blind test , for example) and proposals and hypotheses and theories are carried out. In fact, the scientific procedure is so and so collective that scientists often ask their professional colleagues (the scientific community) to analyze possible errors in their studies (even if this implies that their supposed discoveries are denied). This has the advantage that the more scientists investigate, the more likely they are to find errors in previous research and conclusions .

Seek scientific objectivity

It is clear that absolute objectivity does not even exist in the exact sciences , but that does not mean that it cannot be taken as a reference or ideal. That is why another of the pragmatic features of scientific behavior is to delegate research and hypothesis development responsibilities to auxiliary scientists who are not emotionally involved in the project.

This ensures greater objectivity; Essential characteristic of all scienceThese auxiliary scientists repeat the experiments and compare and analyze the information obtained , because any statement or sentence that claims to have the infallible seal of scientific quality must be able to be refuted or demonstrated by someone outside the project.

Would anyone believe that a doctor who claims to have found the gift of immortality without giving others the option to verify him is right? In a way, it’s a matter of common sense.

The role of the media

The media is of great importance in the scientific future . When television, for example, tells us that some university researchers have discovered something in reality what they want to express (perhaps not very pedagogically) is that this research is far from over, because its conclusions must be subject to repeated verification before having a good level of acceptance.

It is at this point that other professional colleagues must verify the certainty of such statements. After an exhaustive selection and correct arbitration, if the study is still valid, it will be considered that the empirical evidence in favor of the raised hypothesis is robust and serves to explain a phenomenon well.

In this way, humanity will have advanced a step further. A step that may need to be revised in the future to continue advancing, because the scientific method always leaves the door open for a reformulation of theories; the opposite would be falling into a dogma.

Pseudosciences, sciences that really aren’t

Unfortunately, we sometimes make the mistake of developing pseudoscientific hypotheses that, as they are presented, cannot be worked out using the scientific method.

And what is pseudoscience? Pseudoscience is a belief or practice that is presented as science but does not follow a reliable scientific method ; therefore it cannot be proved. It is usually characterized by ambiguous, contradictory and non-specific statements, in which the use of fallacies and exaggerations is the order of the day.

In pseudoscience, it depends on confirmation, but never on refutation tests, not to mention the zero willingness to collaborate with the scientific community so that it can assess the situation. let’s imagine what level of development we would have if our knowledge about nature was based only on these kinds of statements. It is in this comparison that all the value of science lies: in its usefulness .

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