Do we have to learn to think scientifically in order to understand the world?

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#4                                                                Edgars Tarkanijs 11. SB

Do we have to learn to think scientifically in order to understand the world?

Understanding everything has always seemed to be “a hard nut to crack” for our minds. What do we really accept as the explanation for the word “understand”? The dictionary says “Understand- to know or be able to explain to yourself the nature of somebody or something, or the meaning or cause of something.I” Let us stick to that one. We tend to discover more and more, but we still do not know everything. Is it actually possible? Even if it is, what if we are we seeking in the wrong direction? What if we are using wrong methods, wrong approaches? Could we be facing a problem of wrong thinking? I do not believe so and I believe I have the necessary argumentation to prove my point of view.

First of all, let us clarify what we assume to be scientific thinking. A reliable internet source says that scientific thinking is “a thinking based on three things: using empirical evidence (empiricism), practicing logical reasoning (rationalism), and possessing a skeptical attitude (skepticism) about presumed knowledge that leads to self-questioning, holding tentative conclusions, and being undogmatic (willingness to change one's beliefs).II” What really is empirical evidence? “Empirical evidence is evidence that one can see, hear, touch, taste, or smell; it is evidence that is susceptible to one's senses. Empirical evidence is important because it is evidence that others besides yourself can experience, and it is repeatable, so empirical evidence can be checked by yourself and others after knowledge claims are made by an individual.III” We know that logical reasoning is reasoning that is based on pure facts and is not affected by emotions (e.g. hope, will etc.) and skepticism is a constant questioning of your beliefs and conclusions. This seems to be quite reasonable as this thinking does not allow any “outside” factors to affect the experimentation, investigation or whatever else we are doing to gain knowledge via scientific thinking.

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But can everything really be found out that way? We sure gain all our knowledge in areas such as physics, chemistry and all their related branches this way- experiments are carried out, calculations are made, someone of a higher rank or position in the specific area checks the results, the way the experiment was carried out. The more important the experiment, the more thorough the checking, which leaves practically no chance for a mistake. For example in school, in the physics class we had to carry out experiments associated with the magnetic field. We were supposed to find out whether ...

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