Lesson 3 –
The Scientific Method:
Its Benefits & Limitations

Scientists need to believe in the power of their minds endowed with reason to guide them towards the truth. The scientific process applied to an individual scientific problem relies on a dialogue between the scientist and the nature she is observing or experimenting on, and on the accurate recording and interpretation of the outcome of this dialogue. This is the work of reason. If we do not trust that our reason can recognize when a theory fits or doesn’t fit the data, then the whole scientific process is dead. Scientists generally place a lot of trust in their own reason, as well as those of their fellow scientists. If we believe our rational souls are specifically created by God to pursue and recognize truths, then this trust in reason is readily defensible. For non-theists, the origin of this belief in reason is somewhat more mysterious.

 

Fr. William A. Wallace, O.P. | The Modeling of Nature: Philosophy of Science and Philosophy of Nature in Synthesis

“The modeling value of theoretical concepts may be illustrated with the aid of a homely example, that of the ‘mermaid.’ It is sometimes said that mermaids were thought to exist because sailors, after long months at sea and when observing under adverse conditions of distance and at dusk, saw beings nursing their young at the breast, with long hair and fish-like tails that came into view when they dove beneath the surface…The problem was ultimately solved with the identification of a species called the dugong, which, when viewed under conditions approximating those of sailors at sea, were found to explain the phenomena they had observed. Dugongs nurse their cubs at the breast, they have blubber around their necks that in silhouette conveys the impression of long wavy hair, and they have tails like those of fish.

“A somewhat similar situation exists with the theoretical entities known as elementary particles, an example of which would be the electron…”

 
 

Course Listening

 

More Videos

 

Saint Albert the Great and the Natural Sciences | Fr. Conor McDonough, O.P.

 

Supplemental Aquinas 101 videos from Season 1

 
 

This episode was made possible through the support of a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this project are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

 
 

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