Motivating science students by acknowledging the uncertainty of certainties

Abstract

Scope of Study: In the days of Aristotle, science was considered to be nearly synonymous with philosophy; indeed the philosophers were the only ones who indulged in any form of science besides those who practiced the black art or some form of witchcraft. Then when science is said to have come into its own, science and philosophy drifted farther and farther apart, until they were considered to be entirely incompatible. We are now at the threshold of a new era, as science and philosophy are drawing closer together again. We hear it said now that one cannot be a creative scientist unless he possesses a cultivated imagination; that these scientists who pursue observations and logic are constantly plagued by "facts" which they refuse to disregard. Materials for this study, were chosen primarily from journals and periodicals in which writers were concerned with the dilemma and inconsistency in which scientists find themselves at times. Many of these ideas were accumulated from the many remarks of my colleagues and professor with whom this writer has discussed these problems.

Findings and Conclusions: It seems that very little of this new thought concerning the merging science and philosophy, has drifted into the classrooms of our elementary, junior high, and high schools. It would seem only natural that many of these students would like to know of this recapitulation taking place. Perhaps they could be motivated into some serious considerations of the definitions and the presumptions of science. They could very easily be thrilled to realize that science with all of its accomplishments could be considered to be in a dilemma. They could be mystified to the point of awe, when confronted with the suggestion that common sense is not the same as logic and that the latter is merely a matter of habit, education or communication. There are instances in all branches and at all levels of science when these uncertainties can be mentioned with good possibilities of motivation.