As a consequence, scientists who are carefully reflectiveabout their activity do not instinctively ask the question ‘Is itreasonable?’ as if they were confident beforehand what shaperationality had to take. We have noted how ‘unreasonable’, inclassical Newtonian terms, the nature of light turned out tobe. Instead, for the scientist the proper phrasing of the truth-seeking question takes the form, ‘What makes you think thatmight be the case? .John Polkinghorne
About This Quote
When scientists are trying to discover the truth about something, they must be careful to ask themselves, “Is it reasonable?” Scientists must be careful when making assumptions, since many assumptions are wrong. When a scientist is making an assumption, he or she is taking a guess that something might be true. In the quote above, the scientist is asking “What makes you think that?” This phrase raises a question about the object of study and what it could mean. The scientist is asking why the researcher believes that the object in question could be true.
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