Rudiments of scientific knowledge are empirical observation, logic and comparison. It can help a society in its quick and meaningful development. Developed world is an example of this.
History of scientific thinking is very old. It started as soon as a human being started thinking logically about the world around him/her, sun, stars and sky. He could have wondered about the elements of the climate which includes change of seasons, winds, weather, rainfalls and crops.
Then raw scientific thinking underwent a long term evolution. Real science started when human beings thought of reproducing natural phenomena. They needed materials and methods in doing that, which gave birth to engineering and technology.
Agriculture could be the first scientific discipline adopted by human beings from the nature. It is hard to conceive the initial or startup methodology of agriculture. Principles may be close to the old fashioned agriculture we know, an image of which is below.
Philosophy has played an important role in the development of present stage of scientific thinking and the scientific method. Philosophy has been concerned about foundations, methods and implications of the science and the scientific method.
Philosophy was the seed discipline for the modern science we have now. Some of philosophers can be considered initial scientists. Greek civilization is an example of that. Pythagoras, a Greek philosopher, is a typical example of initial scientists. His most celebrated quote is: “Silence is better than unmeaning words“. Pythagoras is portrayed below.
Scientific thinking had faced serious resistance of various types in the history, not to be discussed here. Scientific thinking continued developing through ages, even during the dark time, which ended in 18th century when a scientific revolution took place in Europe.
It finally lighten the whole world. Muslims have bright far past. They have started picking up in science now. Malaysia, Turkey and Pakistan are good examples of it. In general, Muslim world is behind the developed world. We need to adopt scientific thinking for the development.
Now, we look at the relationship between scientific thinking and modern development. Religion or theology strengthen integrity of people while scientific thinking put society on the track of materialistic development.
Both morality and science have their essential roles in the society. Both morality and scientific thinking should be simultaneously and equally aimed. Morality and scientific thinking are like two hands or feet we can only perform or play well by using both simultaneously.
Thoughts drive actions and reshape behavior of people. Scientific thoughts mean organized society, futuristic policies and knowledge & technology based economy.
Scientific thinking can help us in conservation of natural resources and environment due to which Earth will support life longer. Picture below portrays an individual with scientific thinking and being a part of knowledge based economy.
Scientific thinking has helped and will further help us in understanding two fundamental questions: (i) what are ingredients of the universe? and (ii) how does universe work? Universe has fundamental particles and fundamental forces which together compose everything in it including ourselves.
Scientific thinking has revealed the weirdness of the universe. Now, we know that space and time are not absolute but are relative to observer and his framework, which has been experimentally proved.
Theories of relativity and quantum mechanics are presently the standard models of physical reality or scientific truth? Universe and biodiversity (pictures below) are still open questions for scientific thinking.
Lesson: Morality and scientific thinking are two legs of the human society. We have to keep both up.
Declaration: Information and pictures have been collected from in-print and digital sources and are presented here in a coherent manner for a broad scope of readership.