Fruits of Science – Importance of Scientific Temper

“A little learning is a dangerous thing drink deep or taste not the perennial spring”.

William Shakespeare

Unless we realise the importance of scientific temper, we cannot make this a better place. An educated fanatic is more dangerous than his uneducated counterpart. In the middle of the nineteenth century in 1989 a book was published in England which brought the conflict between the dogmatic and the scientific outlook to a head. The book was “The origin of the species” by Charles Darwin. Darwin’s book was epoch making , it produced vast impression and helped in changing the social outlook more than any other scientific work. He used this to show how species of animals had changed and developed by natural selection. Many people had thought till then that every species of animals including man had been separately created by God and had remained apart and unchangeable since then. Darwin showed by a mass of actual examples that species did change from one to another and this was the normal method of development . A few years later Darwin published another book “ The descent of man” in which he applied this theory to man. This idea of evolution and of natural selection is accepted by most people now , though not exactly the way Darwin and his followers put it forward. Darwin theories have been criticized by many scientists , but his general idea still hold. It is quite common thing for people to apply this principle of selection artificially to the breeding of animals and the cultivation of plants and fruits and flowers.If man produce such changes and new species in a relatively short time interval , what could not nature do in thousands or millions of years.

We have modern technology , but our thinking continues to be primitive in many ways. We still believe that far off stars govern our future or the lines on our hands has something to do with our fate. Everybody would like to have the fruits of science but the scientific temper is not so popular. The entire history of humanity shows that it is the scientific temper which is the most precious heritage of humanity.

What is scientific temper? Scientific temper is an attitude of mind which calls for a particular outlook and pattern of behaviour. The spirit of inquiry and the acceptance of the right to question and be questioned are the fundamental to scientific temper. It is the result of constant human labour , search and struggle. While science is universal, established religions are divisive. Science and technology does not have solutions to all human problems at any given time. But science does not sit down and pray for things to happen but seeks to find out why things happen. There lies in science the search for truth on one hand and the betterment of humanity on the other.

“Scientific temper is an attitude of mind, an open rational mind, questioning curious, critical mind – a tomorrow’s mind instead of yesterday’s mind, resistant to rigidity and resilient to change”.

H. Nayudamma

“The mind that questions and questions with a serious intent and purpose and tests and verifies the answer it gets, has a dynamic quality about it which enables it to forge ahead in the world of thought and things.”

Swami Ranganathananda

It was due to this scientific temper that many scientific discoveries were made. May of the scientific discoveries like the telegraph, the telephone, the automobile and later the aeroplane changed the life of the people greatly. Science measured the farthest heavens and also the invisible atom. It lessened the drudgery of man and life became easier for millions. Science also evolved many methods of destruction. But this was not the fault of science. Science increased man’s command over nature but man with all this power did not know how to command himself.

Today, the common man is not much bewildered by many of the discoveries of science not because he has grown accustomed to the surprises of science but because the paradoxes are too technical to understand. Since the beginning of scientific revolution in the 16^th century it has transformed the globe and radically altered human society. It led to the industrial revolution and the development of electronic and computer technology. It has given us the conveniences of modern life, made rapid communication and travel possible, including the great adventure into space. Scientific progress has dramatically increased food production, enabled us to control many diseases and has contributed enormously to the betterment of the human life. For large sectors of the population science is simply equated with the latest technological innovations, which are gladly accepted because of their economic benefits.

Superstitions are easy to make but hard to destroy. Scientific attitude and rational outlook should become a way of life. We want scientific thinking to destroy superstition which has darkened our lives.

“ I think men of goodwill, men and women who are interested in science will try to enlarge the areas of light and try to fight darkness”

Mrs. Gandhi