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10-A. Scientific Attitudes
Science had its beginning when man started asking questions about his environment. He wondered where the sun went at night and why the sky was blue. He questioned why the wind blew and the leaves fell. He sought answers to these and other questions. Not all his answers were correct, but at least he did want to know.
Curiosity and Imagination
Science began to develop rapidly when man laid aside his wrong beliefs and begs to seek true explanations. Young children are curious about how things work. The child wants to take apart a watch to see what makes it work.
Benjamin Franklin wondered about lightning. He combined his curiosity with imagination and carried out his well-known experiment to show that lightning and an electric spark are the same thing. Curiosity and imagination are important qualities which help stimulate the discovery of new facts and advance science.
Belief in Cause and Effect
Scientifically minded people believe in a "cause-and-effect" relationship. They feel there is a perfectly natural explanation for everything. For example, there is a good reason why some leaves turn red and others yellow in the fall. Changes such as these, which are easily observed, are called phenomena. Some common phenomena, however, are not completely understood. Still others cannot be explained at all at this time. In cases where the explanation is unknown the scientific point of view is that there is a reason if it can only be discovered.
Being Open - Minded
Open-mindedness is also extremely important to a scientific attitude. This means the ability to face the facts as they are regardless of what one has previously thought. It includes an ability to accept new and sometimes even disagreeable ideas. The worker in science must face facts whether they are pleasant or unpleasant. He must expect many failures and be willing to try again. Thomas Edison failed thousands of times before he succeeded in producing the first electric lamp.
The solutions to real problems cannot be seen in advance. Scientists must be able to change their thinking and to adapt their theories to new facts as they are discovered. The mind cannot be made up once and for all. New knowledge may make a change in thinking necessary. This is another way of saying that man's understanding is always less than perfect. What is accepted as true often is relatively, and not absolutely, true. A scientific truth offers an explanation that is acceptable only in the light of what is known at a particular time.
Respect for the Views of Others
Another part of a scientific attitude is respect for the views of others. This is easy when these views are like one's own. The difficulty comes up when their ideas are different. Views which are entirely new or foreign may also be hard to accept.
New ideas are frequently very slow to be accepted. Scientists such as Galileo, Louis Pasteur, and Edward Jenner were laughed at because they held theories that were not accepted. Respect for new ideas is important for continued progress in all fields of knowledge.
Opinions on Evidence
Sometimes evidence is not complete. It may take time for new facts to become available. When they are available, a person may have to change his mind. New findings may also require a “wait-and-see” attitude. For example, there is an experiment on the sprouting of seeds which has been running for more than 50 years. The purpose is to determine how long a time can be buried in the ground and still grow when proper conditions for growth exist.
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科学态度
当人类开始对周围的环境提出问题时，就开始有了科学。他们会问“太阳在夜里到哪儿去了?天为什么是蓝的?”他们还会问“为什么会有风?树叶为什么会落下?”他们在寻求这些或那些问题的答案。这些答案并不都是正确的，但至少那时的人确实是想了解周围的世界。
具备好奇心与想像力
当人们把错误的信仰抛在一边，开始寻求正确的解答时，科学便飞速发展起来。小孩对事物的运作充满了好奇，他们总想把表拆开，看看它到底是如何工作的。
本杰明•富兰克林不明白闪电是怎么回事。他把这种好奇加上了自己的想像，进行了那个著名的实验，证明了闪电与电火花是一个原理。好奇心与想像力是非常重要的素质，它有助于刺激人们发现新事实，促进科学的发展。
相信因果关系
具有科学头脑的人相信“因果”关系。他们认为一切事物都应有一个完美而自然的解释。例如，秋天树叶有的变红而有的变黄都有它各自的缘由。人们将诸如此类很容易被观察到的变化称为现象。但有些普通现象人们至今仍没有完全弄懂，还有一些现象目前根本无法解释。在对一些现象的解释还不为人们所知的情况下，科学的观点是，其中必有原因，只是尚未发现罢了。
拥有开放的思想
科学态度中思想开放也至关重要。这指的是面对现实的能力，而不管自己原来的想法。它包括接受新的观点，有时甚至是不愿接受的观点的能力。科学工作者必须面对事实，不管这些事实他是否喜欢。他们必须准备着承受多次失败并愿意继续尝试下去。托马斯•爱迪生就是在失败了数千次之后才成功地发明了第一盏电灯。
解决实际问题的办法无法事先看到。科学家必须有能力改变思路使他们的理论适应新发现的事实。思想不可能一成不变。新知识会使人们改变思维方式。这也就是说人的理解力总是不够完美的。人们认为是对的东西往往不是绝对的，而是相对的，科学的真理提供某种解释，这种解释只是按照某一特定时间内人们的知识水平来说是可以接受的。
尊重他人的观点
科学态度的另一部分就是尊重他人的观点。当这些观点和自己的非常接近时，这一点很容易做到。但当某一观点与自己的完全不同时，做到这一点就非常困难。而当某些观点是全新的或是外来的时，就更难接受了。
人们接受新观点的过程往往很慢。像伽利略、路易斯•巴斯德和爱德华•金纳这样的科学家都曾受到过人们的嘲笑，因为他们的理论不被当时的人们所接受。尊重新观点对所有知识领域的持续发展有重要的作用。
观点要建立在证据基础上
有时事实的证据不够完整，人们需要花时间等待新事实依据的出现。一旦有了新的事实依据，人们会改变他们的看法。实验结果有时也许要求人们持“观望态度”。例如有一个种子发芽的实验就进行了五十多年，其目的是确定在适当的生长条件下，种子可以在地下埋多久仍能生长。