Scientific Knowledge: Foundations and Reasoning Methods

The Origins of Scientific Inquiry and Knowledge

The scientific attitude begins by questioning the phenomena of reality, seeking to understand their underlying causes. From these probable causes, descriptions are formulated.

The source of this attitude can be traced back to figures like Galileo, often considered the father of modern science. This pursuit of knowledge translates to episteme, a concept contrasted with doxa (common opinion).

Plato considered episteme to be the highest form of knowledge, while doxa was mere opinion about contingent things. Aristotle, on the other hand, conceived of knowledge as an integration of sensory experience and mental abstraction. Crucially, knowledge requires language for its expression and development.

Therefore, a rigorous method is developed to check the validity of the knowledge gained. Scientific activity is performed through a specialized language, enabling the analysis, explanation, and understanding of phenomena in both nature and history.

Historicity and Dialogue in Scientific Knowledge

When a phenomenon is interesting and captures our attention, we naturally seek to provide an explanation. Members of the scientific community engage in dialogue to reach agreement and decide on matters of interest. Intersubjectivity in the sciences helps determine what is assumed to be true.

Scientific knowledge always arises from the actions of individuals who interact with each other and in relation to particular objects of interest. This interaction employs a specific method that allows them to verify the validity of their claims about that object.

Fundamental Methods of Scientific Reasoning

Inductive Reasoning: From Observation to Generalization

Sensory experience serves as a primary source of knowledge. Through a reflective process, these experiences are processed and stored as memories. The most salient and common features of these past experiences are then formulated into general propositions or statements, leading to empirical claims that can be tested repeatedly. The aim here is universality.

Developing universal statements from particular cases is known as induction or inductive reasoning. The key is to draw conclusions with a high probability of truth, based on true premises. Inductive reasoning begins with observation or an experience base, which is then updated through a process of abstraction and generalization. This allows us to consider that what was observed in a particular case may be generalized to all other cases of its kind.

Deductive Reasoning: From Principles to Conclusions

Deduction is an intellectual activity considered a primary source of knowledge. It is defined as the rational process by which a scientific proposition, assumed as a conclusion, necessarily results from other scientific propositions that are assumed as premises. The main characteristic of deduction is its inherent necessity.

This ensures that the conclusions reached are valid, provided the process of intellectual derivation (logic) or deduction has been followed closely. An axiomatic system is an ordered set of arguments and knowledge derived from certain common principles called axioms. Theorems are provable statements, or propositions deducible from other original propositions taken as true, or previously deduced.