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Scientific Method with Practical Problems
Can the mind be relied upon to bring about or stop or in any manner influence bodily action? And if it can, what is the extent of the mind’s influence?
In answering these questions we shall follow the method of the practical scientist, whose method is invariably the same whatever the problem he is investigating.
This method involves two steps: first, the collection and classification of facts; second, the deduction from those facts of general principles.
Uses of Scientific Laws
The scientist first gathers together the greatest possible array of experiential facts and classifies these facts into sequences—that is to say, he gathers together as many instances as he can find in which one given fact follows directly upon the happening of another given fact.
Having done this, he next formulates in broad general terms the common principle that he finds embodied in these many similar sequences.
Such a formula, if there are facts enough to establish it, is what is known as a scientific law. Its value to the world lies in this, that whenever the given fact shall again occur our knowledge of the scientific law will enable us to predict with certainty just what events will follow the occurrence of that fact.
First, then, let us marshal our facts tending to prove that bodily activities are caused by the mind.
By: Warren Hilton
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