Definition of scientific thinking - What it is, Meaning and Concept

science is a set of techniques and methods that allow the organization of knowledge about the structure of objective facts and accessible to different observers. Thought , meanwhile, it is the product of the mind, that brought into existence through intellectual activity.

It is evident that the human being thinks to perform any type of activity, from the simplest and most everyday activities (like choosing what shoes will use during the day) to the most complex and abstract (program a computer system, for example).The difference between everyday thinking and scientific thinking lies in the depth and at the levels of abstraction .

Both types of thinking are complementary : science arises when everyday thinking stops making proposals or providing necessary answers to the problems of people .

Among the main characteristics of scientific thinking are the objectivity (facts are taken as presented in reality), the rationality (part of principles and scientific laws) and systematity (knowledge is ordered and hierarchical).

Scientific thinking is also fatico (the facts analyzed are given in reality), transcendent (goes beyond the facts), analytical (decomposes and recomposes the whole), accurate (avoids vagueness), symbolic (to be better explained), verifiable (en object of observation and experimentation), methodical (planned and organized), predictive (from the present, you can go to the past or the future), open (is constantly evolving) and useful (try to contribute to the improvement of society).

The steps towards scientific thinking

The origin of science is related to human needs there because of prehistory.The inadequacy of shelter made it necessary to think and make decisions that led to the subsequent conquest of fire.

More later, it was also from a need that the wheel was invented to conceive a better form of transport.In these two facts it is considered that is the foundation of science as such , a way of solving problems of everyday life through different methods.These were followed by various inventions and steps that improved people's lives, such as obtaining objects from various materials, such as metal, ceramics and fabrics.

In the 6th century B.C one of the most powerful intellectual movements of all time took place in Greece, which generated a resounding change in the world and established the foundations of scientific thought.

During the Egyptian Empire , great knowledge was developed in different fields such as medicine, mathematics and biology and this allowed us to get closer to science as we know it today.

Later, in the Middle Ages the advances made by the ancient Egyptians were merged with the theories embodied by the Greeks and a greater knowledge of reality, of the elements and of the way in which it could be combined and studied.

But surely a period that marked a before and after as far as scientific discoveries are concerned was the Renaissance , where the foundations for the study of truth through science were definitely laid and it was put into words in what the scientific method consisted; which is based on a series of steps, which are: collection of facts, understanding of the facts through laws, formulation of hypothesis in order to explain what happened, comparison of the experimental results with those expected in the developed hypothesis and the prediction of new facts.

Through reasoning and test contrast we build our environment , we learn to relate and put into practice what we know, so scientific thinking is one of the most necessary tools to live in society.