| Sources for The scientific method: Wendell Johnson | 6 aug.2008 |
Here the description of the method of science as given by the psychologist Wendell Johnson in his book on general semantics called People in Quandaries (1946). Johnson concentrates on the dynamics of science, and, being a psychologist, directed towards his designated application of the way of thinking about live itself.
The first quote is about the basic process (Wendell Johnson,
People in Quandaries, p. 49-50):
The basic features of science as a method
... we may examine briefly some of the more "obvious" - but very
important and not at all commonly employed - features of scientific
method.
We may say, in briefest summary, that the method of science
consists in (a) asking dear answerable questions in order to direct
one's (b) observations, which are made in a calm and unprejudiced
manner, and which are then (c) reported as accurately as possible and in
such a way as to answer the questions that were asked to begin with,
after which (d) any pertinent beliefs or assumptions that were held
before the observations were made are revised in light of the
observations made and the answers obtained. Then more questions are
asked in accordance with the newly revised notions, further observations
are made, new answers are arrived at, beliefs and assumptions are again
revised, after which the whole process starts over again. In fact, it
never stops. Science as method is continuous. All its conclusions are
held subject to the further revision that new observations may require.
It is a method of keeping one's information, beliefs, and theories up to
date. It is, above all, a method of changing one's mind - sufficiently
often. ...
When one tries to put these words into a diagram, one might well get the
figure shown alongside. In this diagram one also sees that the process is an
cyclic one, the thing that Johnson describes as 'changing
one's mind - sufficiently often.'
The next quote goes towards Johnson's desired application (Wendell Johnson, People in Quandaries, p.
58-61):
... So far we have indicated, as we have said, five important features
of science as general method and orientation, science as a way of life. In
brief summary these are:
1. The basic notion that reality is to be regarded as a process.
Process implies continuous change. Continuous change implies a never-ending
series of differences in ourselves and in the various aspects of reality to
which we must remain adjusted. No two things are exactly alike; no one thing
stays the same. The point of view which such a notion represents is the
fundamental point of view of science.
2. Adaptability, a readiness to change as changing conditions
require, is fostered by such a point of view. Adaptability is a prominent
feature of a scientific way of life.
3. Of the four main steps involved in scientific method, three are
concerned primarily with the use of language: the asking of the questions
that guide our observations, the reporting of the observations in such a way
as to answer the questions, and the revising of beliefs to the extent that
such revising is required by the answers obtained. (The fourth step, which
is not directly concerned with language, is that of making the indicated
observations.)
The language of science is the better part of the method of science.
4. The language of science is meaningful, in the sense that it
refers directly or indirectly to experience or observable actualities.
As meaningful language it is clear and it is designed to be accurate or
valid. It is continually directed by two great questions: "What do you
mean?" and "How do you know?"
5. The language of science not only involves meaningful, clear, and
valid statements, but also centers around c1early answerable questions. The
use of language in a scientific way involves a peculiarly important rule:
The terminology of the question determines the terminology of the answer.
There is no place in scientific language, there is no place in the language
of sanity, for vague or meaningless - that is to say, unanswerable -
questions. Such questions are maladjustive, tragically misdirective of human
energy. In a scientific way of life they are ruled out; they are frankly
abandoned. As was said at the conclusion of the preceding chapter, the good
will and well-being which the patriarch and the moralist so often and so
disastrously fail to achieve, the scientist would seek to gain by teaching
people how to put nature and themselves only the kind of questions
that can be answered with practical clarity. ...
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