ELENA ROMERO VERGARA, PERSONNR 830519-4584

Describe the “scientific method”. What does it mean and how was it developed?
Is all science governed by hypotheses? How would you apply the method to your
own (real or imaginary) study? And how would it be useful to you?

The scientific method is a research procedure used by scientists to obtain new knowledge.
It consists of a series of steps that minimize the influence of the scientist's subjectivity in the
experiment and reinforce the validity of the results. Roughly, the scientific method steps are:
Making observations, defining questions from the observations, formulating hypotheses that
may or may not answer the question, carrying out tests and experiments that will confirm or
refute the hypothesis, and analysis of the results to obtain deductions around the hypothesis
(Henry, 2012).

Since there is very little evidence of scientific thinking in early cultures from surviving
records, what may be called the beginning of the scientific method appears with Aristoteles.
For him, universal truths could be known from real-world findings. He proposed the idea of
induction and made measurements and observations to gain knowledge (Henry, 2012).

In the tenth century, Aristoteles’s teachings were translated into Latin. Medieval thinkers in
the Western did not seek new knowledge, instead studied earlier thinkers such as Aristoteles.
At the same time, in the Islamic world, theory and practice were combined and craftsmen
were common. They translated ancient Greek writings, such as Plato and Aristoteles, into
Arabic. Most of the influences came from Neoplatonists, but Aristoteles´s work and ideas
were discussed equally by Muslim scientists. They developed instruments to help them
improve their observations and calculations. Muslim scientists used experimentation and
quantification and various scientific methods emerged in the early eleventh century. For
instance, they developed alchemy and made advances in algebra and trigonometry. The two
most pre-eminent Islamic philosophers were Avicenna and Averroes, both names Latinized
(Henry, 2012).

The science developed in the civilization of Islam had a major impact at the beginning of the
sixteenth century, on the European Scientific revolution. The beginning of this period, called
Renaissance (re- birth) started with many changes in Western European culture and
civilization by the fifteenth century. The introduction of three inventions: Gunpowder,
magnetic compass, and the printing press change ways of life. Even under this period strong
city states rises, and the Protestant Reformation showed up. Galen´s theories of anatomy were
falsified by Andreas Vesalius, a professor of surgery who personally dissected human
cadavers in his anatomy classes. Vesalius came to write the first useful anatomy textbook.
In the same year, Nicolaus Copernicus, canon of a cathedral in the Kingdom of Poland,
published De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the revolutions of the heavenly spheres).
He states that the Earth was revolving around the Sun with other planets, and therefore was
not stationary in the center of the world. Copernicus´s hypothesis went reinforced when
Columbus discovered the “West Indies”. Before that, according to Aristotelian philosophy, it
was thought that the Earth was flat. Columbus´s voyage was the first experiment in the history
of early modern science, while Vesalius and Copernicus illustrate two ways of knowledge,
direct observation, and mathematical analysis (Henry, 2012).
Other important thinkers were Francis Bacon and William Gilbert. Bacon stated hypotheses
about the vacuum are not possible. His work, based on elimination- inductive method and
consisted of systematic observation, measurement, and experimentation, led to the
development of the scientific method. The first thinker to conduct a systematic examination
and who discovered that the Earth itself is a giant magnet in motion (contrary to Aristotle´s
teachings) were William Gilbert. Gilbert´s ideas were taken up and introduced to many new
readers by Johannes Kepler and Galileo Galilei. Kepler assumed that all the planets were
global magnets like the Earth and discovery the three laws of planetary motion. Galileo, for
who mathematical or geometrical analysis was applicable to all aspects of the natural world,
regarded the world as a machine which could be analyzed in mathematical terms. He used
experiments as a research tool (Henry, 2012).
In a hope to end the Aristotelian system with a complete science, René Descartes wrote Rules
for the Direction of the Mind. He applied his ideas in practice, analyze geometry and brought
mathematical analysis to scientific subjects (Henry, 2012).
One of the supreme scientific geniuses of all time was Isaac Newton, who´s work became a
model and his inductive method the basis for much of natural philosophy until early
nineteenth centuries. His scientific method was based on laws for reasoning which applied
universally to all branches of science. He was the first to define and systematize the use of
experimental procedures (Henry, 2012).

Hypotheses are not necessarily the correct explanation. Instead, hypothesis are possible
explanations that are testable, falsifiable and serve as the basis for constructing a clear set of
experiments that will led to either acceptance or rejection. Science seeks after knowledge.
Many thought moments of discovery in history have been anti climatic by hypothesis that did
not fit the times. Then, when hypothesis has been tested and falsifiable, new insights
appeared. I think that all science is governed by hypotheses, direct or indirect. When talking
about descriptive studies, whose essential objective is the collection of information/ studies
that already exist, hypothesis is not required, but those information/studies used in descriptive
studies had been formed from hypothesis. That is what I think that all science is governed by
hypothesis.

I can apply the scientific method to my bachelor´s thesis. Although the method is better suited
for quantitative studies than qualitative studies, it will be helpful in obtaining an objective
result as possible. Extra important will be to consider what delimitations have been made. In
other words, anyone should be able to redo the study with the same steps and get similar
results. I must first describe a problem and then hypothesize a possible cause or a possible
solution, or perhaps both, when the first hypothesis is tested. In my case, the goal of my study
will be whether climate changes trigger natural hazards. My hypothesis is that the increase in
global temperature is a trigger (cause). When my hypothesis has been tested, if not falsifiable,
a second hypothesis could be about possible solutions. Finally, a discussion about possible
preparation and adaptation strategies should take place. The scientific method would even
help me not to take current knowledge for granted and instead test old as well as new
hypotheses to seek after new knowledge. In other words, search for new knowledge regardless
of whether it fits with the times.
What is uniformitarianism? Please include information about what theory did it
oppose? Is uniformitarianism applicable to the entire Earth’s history? Provide
scientific motivation and scientific examples to support or question such a
notion.

Uniformitarianism is a theory that states that all geologic change had occur slowly, over a
long period through gradual processes. The opposite theory states that all geologic change
occurs suddenly and is called for catastrophism (Henry 2012; Woodward 2014).

Geology was seen fitting in with the book of Genesis (Henry, 2012). In England for example,
the Church held a strong influence over much of higher education. The general idea of this
theory was that the explanation for the formation of all topological features was cataclysmic
events (Woodward, 2014). James Hutton (1726-97) suggested that the Earth is a self-
repairing and self- correcting mechanism (Henry, 2012). To explain the origin of landscapes
and the geological record, advocated a dominant role for existing causes that could be
observed in the field (Woodward, 2014). He had theories about erosion and raising of new
land from the sea floor. He believed Earth's landscapes like mountains and oceans formed
through gradual processes (Henry, 2012). He argued that weathering, erosion, and
sedimentation operated very slow (Woodward, 2014). Those processes required vast amounts
of time, and the creation of the Earth would continue forever, contrary to the Biblical
chronology of an age of 6000 years (Henry, 2012). Hutton was the first British geologist to
comment the erosive and transporting powers of the glaciers of the Alps, and that those may
have been more active in the past indicated by the very steep slopes of the highest mountains
(Woodward, 2014). Werner (1749-1817) also suggested that for all geologic changes time
needs. He also stated that, when classifying rocks, the most important thing is to do that
according to age and order of deposition rather than according to chemical or mineralogical
properties. He stated that the deepest rocks must have been deposited down first. The problem
was that in some places the rocks seem to have been folded, crumpled and/ or the layers
doubled up. Hypotheses about mountain building were put forward. Dramatic forces were
seen involved. Laplace, Buffon, and others followed the Newtonian tradition, that the earth
was formed by cooling down from solar temperatures and that in the past was much hotter
and the surface more plastic. They believe that the Earth’s interior was therefore subject to
more violent and powerful forces. All these kinds of assumptions led to the catastrophist
tradition (Henry, 2012).

Catastrophism dominated under the early decades of the nineteenth- century. The general idea
of this theory was that the explanation for the formation of all topological features was
cataclysmic events (Woodward, 2014). Catastrophist geologists stated that rapid influx of
water on to dry land by powerful, cataclysmic floods, was caused by sudden upwards shift in
sea beds or sudden deposition of land adjacent to a sea. Evidence that supports this theory
were massive boulders (erratics) found many miles from the rocks formations from which
they must be originated, could have been swept along in a catastrophic flood (Woodward,
2012). Fossil record was another evidence that supported catastrophism by this time. The
disjunctions that can sometimes be seen between flora and fauna fossil records found in the
different layers of rocks could be explained due to some disaster that had overtaken the
animals found in one of rock. This means that one population was cataclysmically wiped out
and replaced by a new set of creatures (Henry, 2012). Georges Cuvier was the most influential
proponent of catastrophism in the early nineteenth century. He proposed that extinct species
had been wiped out by periodic catastrophic flooding events, as the extinction of mammoths,
and was strong opposite theories of evolution (Woodward, 2014). How can it be seen, those
“evidence” fit well with Biblical terms. The catastrophic flood was seen as Noah´s Flood and
since God is the creator of everything evolution was not possible (Henry, 2012).

In 1830, Charles Lyell rejected catastrophism and introduced a new view of the Earth history
formation, uniformitarianism. He accepted the idea that the Earth was racked by catastrophic
events in the past but argued only on those events that are seen to work at present. The
assumptions on uniformitarianism were based are: 1: The laws of nature have not change over
time. 2: The kind of causes operating on the Earth now have always acted the same way. 3:
The intensity of those causes has not changed over time. Lyell went back to Hutton´s theories
and stated that the Earth is in a steady state, all processes that formed and form the Earth are
extremely slow. He insisted about the explanation of the Earth’s surface features, the same
levels of erosion and uplift caused by subterranean heat are occurring even today (Henry,
2012). Lyell promoted the idea of icebergs as transport for the erratic boulders and reinforced
the notion that the superficial sediments of the Quaternary were laid down at a gentle pace by
melting drift ice in deep water and nothing to do with a great flood (Woodward, 2014). Later,
in the 1870s, Archibald Geikie recognize evidence for interglacial in Britain. Thomas
Chrowder Chamberlin (1843-1928) identified evidence for multiple Quaternary glaciations in
North America by the discovery of fossil-rich deposits which represented interglacial periods
(Woodward, 2014). Mountain building and fossil records were unsolved problems for Lyell.
The fossil record was used to argue for evolution later, with the discovery of archaeopteryx
fossils, a link between reptiles and birds, and the reconstruction of the evolution of the horse
from small dog (Henry, 2012).

While uniformitarianism is based on methodological principles, catastrophism was tainted by

religious considerations and was excessively speculative (Henry, 2012). Nowadays it is
known that Earth history involved extended periods of gradual change punctuated by
infrequent catastrophic events, such large meteorite impacts, and massive volcanic eruptions
Though ice core records can ancient volcanic eruptions, and therefore abrupt changes, be
dated (Woodward, 2014), but most applicable to the entire Earth’s history is
uniformitarianism. We know now that erractics can be carried by glaciers (Henry, 2012).
There is Quaternary dating methods that allows the determination of the age of geological
materials. Marine sediments provide a deeper understanding of Earth’s steady shift from
greenhouse to icehouse over the past 55 million years. As uplift of the Himalayas continued,
more carbon from the atmosphere became sequestered in the fossils deposited on the ocean
floor. This period of weathering took about 20 million years. The fossil pollen records tell us
a long-term vegetation change (Woodward, 2014).
References:

Henry J, 2012. A Short History of Scientific Thought. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Woodward J, 2014. The Ice Age: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press.