The Scientific Method: Reflections from a Practitioner [Paperback]

This book looks at how science investigates the natural world around us. It is an examination of the scientific method, the foundation of science, and basis on which our scientific knowledge is built on. Written in a clear, concise, and colloquial style, the book addresses all concepts pertaining to the scientific method. It includes discussions on objective reality, hypotheses and theory, and the fundamental and inalienable role of experimental evidence in scientific knowledge.

This collection of personal reflections on the scientific methodology shows the observations and daily uses of an experienced practitioner. Massimiliano Di Ventra also examines the limits of science and the errors we make when abusing its method in contexts that are not scientific, for example, in policymaking. By reflecting on the general method, the reader can critically sort through other types of scientific claims, and judge their ability to apply it in study and in practice.

1. Science Without Philosophy?
2. Material World and Objective Reality
3. First Principles and Logic
4. Natural Phenomena and the Primacy of Experiment
5. Observation and Experimentation
6. The Role of Human Faith in Science
7. Approximate and Limited Description of Natural Phenomena
8. Hypothesis
9. Theory
10. Competing Theories
11. Can One Theory be Derived from Another?
12. Verifying or Falsifying? And What?
13. Don't be a Masochist!
14. Consensus in Science? What is That?
15. Flow Chart of the Scientific Method
16. The What and Why Questions
17. Scientism : Abusing the Scientific Method
18. Final Thoughts
Further Readings
About the Author
Index

Science students should read this book early in their studies and learn to apply it to their coursework. It is short enough to use as a companion book and should lead to useful discussions about the nature of science and its practice. This work would also complement a course in the ló,