Revisiting the Scientific Method

Description

This book is a follow-up to the previous book by the author (‘The 8-Fold Way of the Scientific Method’). The previous book introduced the reader to the way science is done: Strict adherence to objectivity, rationality, and transparency in handling information about a natural phenomenon we want to understand. The present book goes a step further and takes a critical look at the Scientific Method to see what can be done to make science more inclusive in scope; for example by giving due importance to subjective or experiential information also, and not only empirical information. Together the two books provide a fairly comprehensive account of the nature of scientific research, and can serve as course material for the training of an aspiring scientist. The theme of consciousness runs throughout the present book, because it is the most important example of a nonphysical phenomenon or entity that current science, by and large, tends to stay away from. Ways are suggested for dealing with this problem by relaxing in a carefully guarded manner some of the eight tenets of the present Scientific Method. Big Data is a rather recent development in the history of science. Its availability is going to have far-reaching consequences for the way science is going to be done now. The book discusses its promises and pitfalls. Present-day science, which is mostly reductionistic in approach, is not adequate enough for dealing with complex systems. Here again, Big Data may be of big help because pattern formation is an important characteristic of many complex systems, and Big Data is very good (rather too good!) at discerning patterns or correlations. Discussion of Karl Popper’s falsifiability criterion occupies substantial space in this short book. This is because this criterion is the main reason why the present Scientific Method labels many questions about Nature as unscientific or nonscientific, thus limiting the scope of scientific enquiry. In a more inclusive approach one would also give due importance to the philosophical rival of falsificationism, namely verificationism. Another way of making science more inclusive is to use a diluted version of falsificationism, formulated by Imre Lakatos. There is also a discussion of the work of some other philosophers of science, notably Nicholas Maxwell and Thomas Kuhn. Popper’s philosophy for doing science has proved to be very successful, but it is desirable that the student of science be also aware of other models of how science can progress.

About the Author

Dr. Vinod Kumar Wadhawan earned his M. Sc. degree in solid-state physics from the University of Delhi, and Ph. D. degree in physics (X-ray crystallography) from the University of Bombay. His entire career was with the Department of Atomic Energy (GOI). His areas of interest include crystal physics, symmetry, phase transitions, ferroic materials, crystal growth, smart structures, and complex systems. He was till the end of 2010 a Raja Ramanna Fellow at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai. Before that he served as ‘Outstanding Scientist’
and Head, Laser Materials Division, Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore. He relinquished in 2010 the task of Associate Editor of the journal PHASE TRANSITIONS (Taylor & Francis, USA), having done editorial work for this journal for 25 years.

Dr. Wadhawan is the originator of the concepts of optical ferrogyrotropy, acoustical ferrogyrotropy, and latent symmetry. Other terms introduced by him in the scientific literature are superelectrostriction and superpiezoelectricity (by analogy with the concept of superelasticty in physical metallurgy). He also formulated a comprehensive tensor classification of twinning in crystals. His book on ferroic materials, published in 2000, is the first comprehensive and definitive book on the subject.

Books written:
1. Introduction to Ferroic Materials
Gordon & Breach Science Publishers, Amsterdam (2000)
2. Smart Structures: Blurring the Distinction between the Living and the Nonliving
Oxford University Press, Oxford (2007)
3. Complexity Science: Tackling the Difficult Questions We Ask about Ourselves and about Our Universe
LAP Lambert Academic Publishing, Saarbrücken (2010)
4. Latent, Manifest, and Broken Symmetry: A Bottom-up Approach to Symmetry, with Implications for Complex Networks
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (2011/2014/2018), USA
5. Understanding Natural Phenomena: Self-Organization and Emergence in Complex Systems
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (2017/2018)
6. The 8-Fold Way of the Scientific Method: What science has been all about so far, and how it should be done now
Published by the author. Powered by Pothi.com (India) and Kindle Direct Publishing (USA) (2021).
7. Revisiting the Scientific Method: The Need to Make Science More Inclusive in Scope
Published by the author. Powered by Pothi.com (India) (2025).

He is a committed science-popularizer, and also a blogger, and his blog is aptly named 'The Vinod Wadhawan Blog: Celebrating the Spirit of Science and the Scientific Method (https://vinodwadhawan.blogspot.com/). More recently, he has started producing a series of YouTube videos under the title ‘Wadhawan Educational Videos on Science’. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCTJvufWrgHs6G41HoakhRw.

Wadhawan believes that scientists should lead by example when it comes to promoting scientific temper in society. Their lives should reflect all that is worthwhile in the scientific profession, particularly intellectual integrity, curiosity, wonderment, rationality, skepticism, ready willingness to change one’s views if new information warrants that, and a deep sense of belonging and oneness with the Cosmos in general and Mother Earth in particular.

Book Details

ISBN: 9789334190403

Publisher: Self-published

Number of Pages: 145

Dimensions: 6"x9"

Interior Pages: B&W

Binding: Paperback (Perfect Binding)

Availability: In Stock (Print on Demand)

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