Scientific thinking is the process of translating an observable phenomenon in man or universe into a demonstrable, reproducible and measurable phenomenon based on individual unique cause circumstances. Objectivity and rationality are compulsory part of scientific thinking and scientific thinking of all kinds are intended to obtain conclusions regarding the laws of nature that govern man and universe regardless of interests and opinions of people. Scientific thinking also inculcate demonstrability and verifiability of cause mechanisms of all conclusions by logical arguments by an orderly explainable procedure which is rational and analyzable based on inbuilt knowledge of the phenomenon. Accuracy in understanding and communicability are crucial components of scientific thinking .
Value of understanding
In science , understanding matters more than discovery of something. Understanding reality may require to think freely from every kind of prejudice that is ingrained in conventional modality and the only purpose of understanding is exploring truth as it is . Understanding is interesting and more over exciting part of research because it is absolutely free from vested interests and career ambitions and therefore completely unbiased the purpose of which is to acquire command in the method of knowing the reality in its natural scenario.In Medical research, when I ask my students to do thesis on medicines , Iam not allowing them to explore the science of diagnosis and treatment of the situation because treatment is not equal to medicine ,treatment refers solely to the process of reversal of disease.When old medicines are discarded or new medicines are developed , it does never guarantee that treatment is fair or better as the latter happens only by deepening of the highly specific and specialized mode of understanding of cause mechanisms of disease and its mode of reversal. The old mistakes in comprehending and reversing the cause mechanisms of clinical situations can be recognized and rectified if and only when the clinical situations are lively studied and explored instead of going behind medications. This is what exactly scientific thinking in Medicine is intended to be . It is intended to save man and render protection to him by the scientifically accurate decision making thoughts and deeds of the physician and for this reason in Ayurveda, every physician is recommended to be a clinical scientists who pertinently employs the algorithms in science in variable clinical situations by constant research and refining of intelligence .
The theorems, laws and principles of a settled science like Ayurveda are not something which can be changed and hence they are meant to be comprehended rightly and seriously and judiciously learnt to apply in variable clinical situations.This is what exactly scientific method is and not sailing in the ocean of uncertainity endlessly.Scientific method is the constant process of refining natural intelligence and common sense of the scientists based on the existing knowledge of theorems , laws and principles of that particular system of science thereby enhancing the clarity and objectivity in their application and not randomly picking some idea, hypothesizing and testing it blindly and display the observations . Science has absolutely nothing to do assembling data and analysing , rather it has everything to do with the way we understand and apply the established logics in realistic situations for recognizing and solving problems.The past knowledge is the chief ingredient of our basement knowledge and understanding of any new problem.Only knowledge take us ahead in research and not any blind guess work or imagination. The latter are worth for making stories and not meant to explore and establish truth.Scientific method is not constantly flushing off and replacing old by junk by new junk rather it is an educated journey of taming common sense in science.It is the method of science led exploration of adopting most reliable methods to know and apply science and not statistics. It is not based on probability rather it is based on reliability. The rational demonstrable and verifiable logics pertaining to the phenomenon is the subject of scientific thinking and not blind observational data of may be- may not be. Science is not about data collection and analysis rather it is all about understanding laws of nature of man and universe and its accurate application for problem solving.
Misinterpreting statistical methods as scientific method in natural sciences is height of absurdity
Dr. Remya Krishnan MD PhD
The co pioneer of SBEBA