Linda Lapina
ToK essay No.4
Do we have to learn to think scientifically
to understand the world?
Perhaps everyone would agree that one has to learn in order to understand the world and events happening around him. Understanding does not come at once. However, there are several new questions arising when we think about the essay question. First of all, to what extent can thinking be learnt? When can one say that he truly understands the world? What is “the world”? And, most importantly, what does it exactly mean to think scientifically and what is the importance of scientific thinking? I will give answers to these questions in the essay.
In order to understand the exact effect that science has upon our attitude and knowledge of the world surrounding us, first of all we have to make the usually vague concepts of “world” and “science” and even “thinking” more specific.
The word “world” can label nearly everything from a particular tree to a particular individual. However, it is usually used to name our planet or the whole universe- or at least, that’s what we think we’re naming. Yet, I believe that most people, using this term, actually refer to the part of their whole surroundings that they are truly aware of. This means that to a person who would have been kept locked in a dark room for his whole life, the concept “world” would be nothing more than the dark room. There is no possibility for us to include the whole universe or even the whole planet in this concept, because our knowledge about them is very incomplete. One cannot give names to things that he does not even know about. This lets us narrow down this term and assume that it names individual’s surroundings, environment that he lives in and contacts every day.