Nature/Introduction

Citations

• Everything, what is against nature, will not last for long. - Charles Darwin
• There is no instance above reason. Sigmund Freud, The future of an illusion
• The voice of reason is not loud, but it does not rest, until it is heard. Sigmund Freud, The future of an illusion

The scientific point of view is successful

There are many ways to look at the world that can be taken as a foundation of one's thinking. The scientific point of view may be an exception. No other way was so successful until now. No other view is so widely spread in schools, the media and in our brains. The voice of science and nature is not loud, but you cannot ignore it. Many other views have their basis in science, or must change in part to fit its demands.

Some more characteristics of this view

We must widen the word scientific and add other characteristics, which grant its success.

Mathematical

Science is mathematical.

Mathematics is in a strict sense not a science. But its language has proofed as universal. In this language the laws of science can be written down very comprehensively.

Critical

Science is critical.

No other conception of the world submits its own basis of a so fundamental criticism. In addition, the criticism turns outward too. All other conceptions of the world are subjected to this criticism and the scientific search for truth.

Rational

Science is rational.

Reason, that means clear, logical thinking, is the basis of science, even if this may not appear at the first glance. The rational basis results already from the characterisation of the scientific view as mathematical, because logic is part of mathematics.

However the rational basis still goes beyond this: It rejects all unverifiable, supernatural arguments: In the scientific view of the world everything happens with good reasons. Unresolved questions of nature are answered better with a natural and not with a supernatural explanation.

Open - not closed in its self

The scientific view is open.

May be the scientific view of the world looks as a stable and finished system. That is not the case. There are still many open questions in this conception of the world and also fundamental things are not clear yet. Openness becomes thus a virtue of this conception of the world. Every once in a while something in science changes and obvious contradictions are a stimulus for advancement.

For open questions there is a separate chapter in this Wikibook: See Open questions in science

Emotional

The marriage of the soul with nature will make your mind fertile and will produce phantasy. Henry David Thoreau

The next part of the text should show, that the scientific point of view can be emotional as well.

Nature is the essential basis of human life. When nature is so important for us, why don't we choose it for the basis of our thinking ?

Looking up to the sky, we see the stars, the moon, the sun and the planets. On their way through space they follow simple rules, which developed and are followed without any human influence. These rules show the constance and determanism in some parts of nature.

Links

• Philosophy of science
• Weltanschauung