WHAT IS SCIENTIFIC THINKING? - SCIENCE - 2025

The scientific thinking is the ability of people to formulate ideas and mental representations of rational and objective manner. This type of thinking is distinguished from everyday, metaphysical and magical thoughts.

But, to understand what scientific thinking is, you must first understand what science is and thus decipher how thought can be nourished by it. According to different academic portals, science is:

"A set of techniques and methods that allow organizing knowledge about the structure of objective facts and accessible to different observers."

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Scientific thought: definition and origins

Scientific thought starts from observations and experiences that generate questions or "methodical doubts" for Descartes. Based on these questions, verification systems are developed that approve or discard them. These testing methods are based on experience and measurement.

Since the beginning of humanity, man has gradually developed the ability to think to act correctly in different situations. However, not all man's thinking has always been mediated by science.

In ancient times magical or mythological thinking predominated, in which man found the solutions to the great questions based on the action of the gods and nature. Centuries later, in the Middle Ages religious thought predominated, whose premise was that nothing was possible without the will of God.

Thanks to the advances of the laws of Newton and Galileo Galilei, the horizons of a more rational type of thought began to open, which explained the phenomena of nature by unbreakable laws in which God could not intervene.

In 1636, René Descartes wrote The Discourse of Method, the first modern work. The modern turn not only consisted of seeking universally valid methods for obtaining knowledge, but also displaced God as the center and placed man as the beginning and the end.

Since then, rational thinking based on science has dominated explanations of natural and human phenomena. A practical example of the application of scientific thinking is that when it rains, we no longer think that a god cries, but we know that there is a process of evaporation, condensation and precipitation.

The human being thinks to carry out simple and complex activities. But thought does not always have to be scientific, authors pose everyday thought as a stable set of scientific and magical aspects.

Premises of scientific thought

Objectivity

It is based on undeniable elements. Objectivity is the adaptation of phenomena to reality. Only the facts serve to support the objectivity of something. However, there is much debate about objectivity when it comes to being treated by subjects.

Rationality

Reason is one of the faculties that allows us to distinguish between good and bad. Rational thought is subject to scientific principles and laws. Rationality enables the integration of concepts and logical laws.

Systematicity

Systematics is a series of elements that have been harmoniously compiled. But, if we talk about science, it must be defined more precisely. Scientific thoughts cannot be without order. They are always framed in a set and are related to each other.

Characteristics of scientific thought

For Mario Bunge, scientific knowledge must have the following characteristics:

Factual

It is factual because it starts from facts of reality and returns frequently to confirm it. Sensory experience is elementary to be able to grasp the facts of reality.

Analytical

Pollen seen through a microscope.

Understand each of the parts that make up a phenomenon and classify it based on different criteria. The analytical character also consists of continuously decomposing and describing objects in greater depth each time.

Transcendent

Scientific knowledge never dies or goes out of style, once a phenomenon has acquired the character of scientific it transcends the barriers of time.

Precise

Scientific knowledge necessarily has to be precise. The best example of this is mathematics, despite speaking thousands of languages, mathematical language is understood and accurate all over the world.

Symbolic

The symbolism in scientific thought appears in the capacity for abstraction that every person must have to generate mental representations that are real. Without the ability to symbolize and abstract it would not be possible to think deeply and make analogies.

Communicable

It is available to anyone who makes the effort to understand and apply it. One of the necessary conditions to develop this type of thinking has been the ability to communicate data and reflect on it.

Verifiable

All knowledge that claims to be scientific has to be tested under different conditions. Everything that is not verifiable is pseudo-science and metaphysics.

Methodical

Scientific thinking and knowledge cannot be disordered, plan the steps to follow methodically. This serves to obtain particular and general conclusions, in addition to making analogies.

Predictive

Scientific thinking accurately predicts future events that an event can trigger based on laws and principles that science itself has.

Useful

Scientific knowledge has been one of the main bulwarks for the advancement of humanity when it has tried to understand great problems and seek solutions.

Scientific thought in history

Perhaps the first demonstration or attempt to find more rational explanations happened in Greece. The doxa was a worldview that explained everything from myths and supernatural forces; the philosophers interposed the episteme as true knowledge or knowledge that was opposed to apparent knowledge.

In the Egyptian Empire, important knowledge was developed in areas such as mathematics, medicine and biology. This helped to strengthen the new system of knowledge production form.

But the period in which the definitive turn towards scientific notions of way of perceiving the world occurs is in the Renaissance. At this stage the scientific foundations for the study of truth were laid and the scientific method was created.

Albert Einstein said: "science without religion is lame, and religion without science is blind." Today we know that scientific thinking allows us to lay solid foundations for growth, acquiring the basic knowledge and tools to improve as human beings and as a society.

References

1. Definition of (2017) Scientific Thought. Recovered from: definicion.de.
2. Estela, S; Tagliabue, R. (1998) Scientific Thought. Biblos Publishing House. Buenos Aires. Argentina.
3. Pérez, A. (2016) The Importance of Scientific Thinking and The Critical Spirit. Recovered from: nuecesyneuronas.com.
4. Torres, A. (2017) Everyday Thought and Scientific Thought. Recovered from: milenio.com.
5. López, J. (2004) Scientific Thought. Recovered from: uv.mx.
6. Marsall, W. (1974) Scientific Thought. Editorial Grijaldo. Mexico.
7. Ruiz, R. (1989) History And Evolution Of Scientific Thought. Editorial Grupo Patria Cultural, SA Mexico.
8. Yehoshua, B. (1983) Studies and History of Scientific Thought. Critical Editorial. Spain.