The Effect of Scientific Method

 in Developing Human Society

Omid Reza Taheri

Research Scholar in Cognitive Science

Scientific method may be characterized as a systematic and rational method facilitating the acquisition of ‘factual’ knowledge. It represents a methodological principle for knowledge construction and evaluation.

A key feature of this principle is observation, that ‘factual’ knowledge is derived, not from some metaphysical source, but from observable phenomena. The kind of observation in question is empirical. A significant thinker associated with empiricism is Bacon; Bacon maintains that one must investigate the world oneself, rather than accepting ‘received knowledge’. At a time when a primarily religious form of knowledge, handed down from pre-modernity, still dominated, Bacon challenges the resulting distrust that discoveries might be made in the future which were not discovered previously.

Bacon – a religious man – indicates that Scripture, generally regarded as authoritative in his time, is no substitute for one’s own experimental investigation. As here implied, experimentation has a close association with observation.

One of the first figures to demonstrate experimental method is Newton. His methodology demonstrates a systematic approach, beginning with evidence and building towards an account. Effectively, he executes a precise advance from discrete observable phenomena towards the formulation of general scientific laws. Newton establishes the requirement for a controlled environment within which experimentation can be conducted.

This environment is known as the ‘closed system’. There are, in fact, naturally occurring closed systems - e.g. astronomy identifies the solar system as such, though how ‘closed’ is open to debate – but, ordinarily, a closed system is an artificial construct enabling observation of a limited number of variables without interference from external factors. For the most part a truly closed system may be an ideal rather than a reality, as achieving total avoidance of ‘contamination’ from outside factors, including the observer, would seem problematic.

Something of the ‘mechanism’ of scientific method is now revealed, but it does not disclose the method’s aims. Science is associated with notions of truth, rationality, progress and humankind. It is already addressed ‘truth’ in reference to ‘factual’ knowledge, and ‘rationality’ in portraying scientific method as rational.

But the aims of scientific method are located in its association with progress and humanity. Like ‘truth’ and ‘rationality’, ‘progress’ and ‘humankind’ identify science in the historical context of its emergence: the Enlightenment. 

The Enlightenment represents perhaps the most significant shift in ‘world view’ in the history of Western civilization. The remnant of all improvement is the outcome of human being's observation from nature, and his/her analysis reflected in thousands of papers which are being used by millions of people worldwide so as not to repeat the mistakes of the past. Thus, it was a new beginning for the development of future generations.

As it has been proved without practice everything remains in a static state, so the way which makes the human to be dynamic is research which must be practiced by mind to have a proper outcome, otherwise, it would not change any thing.

Long ago, for many years, mankind used its mind only to find the basic needs, but by the time according to its gradual perfection in its physical and psychological system, and by the environmental effects, human beings transferred and distributed in different places. By the change of time, physical and psychological changes took place in human being so that it could separate itself from other beings, and they came to know that they can bring about many changes in their life according to their concept of the nature.

They created the rules for their life in order to make sense and discipline for their existence. Long after, they started their discovery and research to save up the future generations. For each research and invention, they began to write many papers on various topics in order to be taken by the coming generations.

Therefore, this became to be a spark for human beings' improvement which changed it from static to dynamic state, and finally they turned up as analysts who could analyze the history in order to find the proper way for their future.

After the Middle Age, a new revolution occurred made physical ability and human force into logical behavior, and meanwhile many academies and institutes established by philosophers and mathematicians to make improvement for the betterment of society.

As a movement of thought reaching its height in the eighteenth century, the Enlightenment narrows down the way in which reason can be defined. The classical Greek idea of Reason (Logos) was understood as a semi-divine principle, but the Enlightenment redefines reason as a purely human ability – an ability to be employed empirically. Locating reason in the human subject points to another feature of the Enlightenment, namely the ‘turn to the subject’ instigated (stimulated) by Descartes.

Descartes employs a systematic method of doubt to acquire reliable knowledge; he eventually reaches the conclusion that there is one thing that one cannot doubt: one’s own existence. Descartes declares it impossible for anyone to doubt, while in the process of doubting, that he or she exists. Descartes shifts attention to matters interior to the human subject. It is here, arguably, that the seeds of Western social science can be identified, a science whose interests, like its originators, are human subjects. 

The Enlightenment suggests that humankind is self-dependent and thus is able to control its destiny. The assumption is that humankind can work towards its own future, moving from the imperfect to the perfect. As one Enlightenment source would have it, legal and governmental forms progress, superseding those previously existing; art and science, also, open up and move towards perfection. Thus, science emerges as the major tool in the advancement endeavour. To sum up, the scientific method is a common approach in Western scientific thought which is:

-systematic, rational, and empirical

- seeks ‘factual’ knowledge through use of ‘closed systems’

- aims for human betterment

Baloch Academy Of Humanities www.balochacademy.org