So You Think You Can Think by Christopher W. DiCarlo

Author:Christopher W. DiCarlo
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2020-05-24T16:00:00+00:00

SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE

The fourth and final form of evidence is the most important and the most objectively reliable: scientific evidence. This type of evidence involves claims about our understanding of the cause-and-effect relationships of the natural world. They require that we produce physical, empirical evidence to indicate that we are on the right track in understanding how the world works. Earlier, we saw that induction, or inductive reasoning, is the hallmark of scientific investigation. This means that when we look at some particular behavior in the world and we observe that it repeatedly occurs over and over again and under similar circumstances, we then conclude that it is likely to behave the same way again in the future. Now, it has always been quite striking to me how few people in the world actually know how science works. The basis for all scientific inquiry involves a systematic method of inquiry, proposal, discovery, and consideration. The scientific method of inquiry should be taught in all schools at very early stages so that we can better appreciate what is actually going on when scientists make claims. This type of evidence works because when we look at various phenomena in the world—like the effects of gravity—and then observe that they repeatedly occur the same way under the same conditions over and over again, we can then conclude that they are likely to behave the same way in the future. So this type of evidence satisfies very well the foundational criterion of consistency. Many people do not realize it, but we use the scientific method in our lives all the time.

But before we delve into the scientific method, we need to better understand why scientific evidence is so important and how we attain it. Science touches every part of our lives, so we need to more clearly appreciate this relationship.

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