Scientific method is the most dependable technique that is used to obtain systematic knowledge

Scientific method is the most dependable technique that is used to obtain systematic knowledge.

By using this assured technique we try to know the facts and their true nature. It is adopted by the empirical sciences to build up their systems.

Though the subject matter of sciences differs from one another their procedure remains almost the same for all empirical sciences aim at giving explanation of facts and phenomenal with which they deal with.

They want to make their observation or experiment accurate, generalisaions exceptionalness, explanations satisfactory and knowledge systematic and dependable. Hence the method they want to employ will be such that it would discover the facts in their true nature. Knowledge of facts is the basic objective of sciences.

To have knowledge of facts we reflect upon what we observe. We systematize and classify them so that we can have satisfactory explanation. But simply collecting the facts will be idle unless there is some felt-need to explain some facts.

So there must be an intellectual inquisitiveness behind an explanation. A proper explanation of the facts can fulfil the goal and terminate the inquiry.

To make a new discovery on the basis of observation of facts requires great insight. An extraordinary genius can make a scientific innovation.

The scientific method is the very basis of carrying out the search. The empirical sciences, both natural sciences and social sciences, adopt a common procedure to explain the facts.

Systematization of facts, their classification, inductive generalisaions, discovery of exceptionalness regularities or laws, construction of theories etc. are a part of scientific illustration.

That is done by the use of the scientific method. Thus the scientific method is the most assured technique that has been devised for explanation of the facts.

The scientific method is usually the same as the inductive procedure. We have already discussed the different stages of inductive procedure in the chapter “Nature, Procedure and Problem of Induction”.

The scientific method usually consists of the steps like observation of facts, formation of hypothesis and verification of the hypothesis by deduction and further observation. To the scientific mind some facts pose problems as the scientist wants to know why they occur. He seeks to know the law behind the observed phenomena.

To find out an explanation he formulates a hypothesis. Formulating a legitimate hypothesis is not that easy a matter. It requires deep insight and creative imagination. The confirmation of the hypothesis is an essential need in scientific inquiry.

The consistency of the hypothesis with the established laws is considered important. Facts constitute the sole basis for the confirmation of the hypothesis. In case of non-instantial hypothesis a deductive procedure is maintained for its verification. If contrary evidence is found at any stage of verification then the hypothesis is either modified or discarded.

Where direct verification of the hypothesis is not possible, it is in fact not possible in case of many theories; the hypothesis is indirectly verified by the deductive method. Since deduction has a significant role in the confirmation of the hypothesis some logicians call this process hypothetico-deductive method instead of inductive procedure.

But basically the inductive procedure and the scientific method are not different from each other. The inductive procedure is used in a wider sense to include unification and systematization of the laws of science and not simply for isolated generalisations.

Systematization of the laws by using some order is the object of science. The scientific method includes the process of unification of the generalisaions.

Logic as a process of reasoning is not to examine the scientific investigation, the laws or theories. But it is primarily concerned with the method that is used in science. For logic examines the methods that are employed to build up systems of knowledge.

The method that is generally used to build up systematic knowledge in every branch of science comes within the scope of logic. For logic examines the reasonableness of a method and its possible limitations.

Unless the method that is used in a system of knowledge is cogent, the product of the inquiry will not be true. Logic justifies the scientific method or the procedure of induction as the most assured technique to be employed in empirical sciences.