What is scientific thinking? Are the university corridor discussions scientific thinking or is well argumented critics against scientific publications the essence of scientific thinking. No - not really.
We are born with the belief -I learn, - I understand, - I can find structure from what I see. We recognize regularity from our experiences and we feel the euphoria of discovery when we detect that the nature behave as we anticipate and that makes us feel as masters of nature and we feel powerfull. This is what scientific thinking is about - it is about finding structure.Sometimes we encounter things that we can not understand; the factors of which are outside our influence and control. Accepting things as they are save us in these frustarating situations. But sicientific thinking never gives up; it makes efforts to understand and master as long as there is life.
Scientific thinking never surrenders - it believes that everything has an elegant stucture and explanation. We all are sicientists with a confidence that every constant of physics has some rational explanation, every law of nature is part of a more general framework from which that law of nature can be derived. The even surface of the sea has an explanation as well as the sun that rises or the direction of wind. Nothing is out of the reach of our comprehension, there is no ultimate, eternal and mystical God in our physical world.
Scientific thinking builds on the confidence that we can discuss
about things. We believe that there exists a common truth that can be discussed about.
Existence is not totally personal but instead we all experience the same
stuctures and laws of nature. We get pleasure from
making joint discoveries and comprehensions. Funny
coincidences show us similiarity where we least expect and we burst
into laugh and what is even better - we can share the joy with each
other. This is sicentific thinking at its best.
Scientific thinking believes, that nothing is the explanation of itself - the world is instead open and endless. One explanation leads to an other and further to a third. Molecules consist of atoms and atoms consist of elementary particles. The chain of explanations is endless. The liers paradox. "It is true that I always lie" is not true nor lie. It says something about its own truth and tries thus to be it's own explanation - and that is the mistake in that paradox. We believe that nothing can expalain itself, but instead there are some facts in each system that can not be proved in the context of that particular system itself - these truths follow from an other, more common and wider framework. An explanation calls for an other explanation - and the chain of explanations is endless.
We are born to believe in scientific thinking - it is a central part of our humanity. Based on this belief we know for example that all elementary particles, as they are currently known, are an illusion that is induced by a more deeper structure and we know that those four dimensions that we are so familiar with are an other illusion generated by a more general law that governs the individual elementary transactions. Everything is an illusion and there is always a more fundamental explanation - the explanations are a never ending spiral of metaconcepts. We know this because the essence of us is intelligence the never ending jouney of us is to find structure and that we are never going to find the mystical final explanation - the God; he will always escapes our intelligence. Finding structures is the essence of us and that's why we will always believe that the world is comprehensible.
Piksu 22.1.2007 / Kai Nyman
This article contains thinking from following masters: Bertrand Russell, Kurt Gödel, Esa Saarinen, Georg Henrik von Wright, Platon, Sigmund Freud
I am especially thankfull to my friend Esa Saarinen about the encouragement and help.