The Scientific Method & the Pursuit of Truth (Reason)
Thinking (in part) is reason, and reason is the scientific method. The pursuit of truth requires a rigorous application of the scientific method.
Here (learningframework.com):
While the some thinking is achieved applying this process (establishing and testing one’s hypothesis), the reason, or the pursuit of truth, requires that one also test for sufficiency. Sufficiency is an extremely difficult and tedious process for most individuals to pursue. As a result, our minds pursue many shortcuts to this process.
The Scientific Method Process
From Live science (a source as good as many)
- Make an observation or observations;
- Ask questions about the observations and gather information;
- Form a hypothesis (a tentative description of the observations), and make predictions based on that hypothesis;
- Test the hypothesis and predictions in an experiment that can be reproduced;
- Analyze the data and draw conclusions; accept or reject the hypothesis or modify the hypothesis if necessary;
- Repeat the experiment as necessary. There can be no discrepancies between observations and theory. “Replication of methods and results is my favorite step in the scientific method,” says Moshe Pritsker, a former post-doctoral researcher at Harvard Medical School and CEO of JoVE, told Live Science. “The reproducibility of published experiments is the foundation of science. No reproducibility – no science.”
Also, the following underpinnings to the scientific method are also required:
- The hypothesis must be testable and falsifiable, according to North Carolina State University. Falsifiable means that there must be a possible negative answer to the hypothesis;
- Research must involve deductive reasoning and inductive reasoning. Deductive reasoning is the process of using true premises to reach a logical true conclusion. Inductive reasoning takes the opposite approach;
- An experiment should include a dependent variable (which does not change) and an independent variable (which does change);
- An experiment should include an experimental group and a control group. The scientist compares the control group to the experimental group.
The Scientific Method and Tests for Sufficiency
The pursuit of truth
The scientific method describes the process whereby a single hypothesis offers an explanation for observed data. At it’s simplest level, the scientific method requires only this. The pursuit of truth however, requires a much more substantial effort. It demands sufficiency as well. That is, one must disprove all possible alternative hypotheses that might also describe the data. To be the true solution, the surviving hypothesis must be the only solution.
