GS Paper 1
Syllabus: Indian Society
Source: The Hindu
Direction:
Context: This is an editorial piece. The author argues that India has failed to propagate scientific literacy not only among the public but also among scientists themselves
Scientific temper is an open-minded examination—a temper ever ready to welcome new knowledge and experiments, even when their results are unfavourable to preconceived opinions or theories.
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- Jawaharlal Nehru defined it as an attitude of logical and rational thinking.
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Constitution: Propogate scientific temper (a duty in Article 51A) (included through the 42nd Amendment)
Importance:
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- Bringing forth a progressive society that is free of superstitions and irrational
- Developing the nation in all spheres (political, economic and social)
- Promoting tolerance among people for differing thoughts and ideas.
- Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge
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Issues:
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- Scientific temper in India has continued to remain a lofty ideal and has not percolated into society.
- The bulk of scientists in the country was not committed to a scientific temper which calls for rationality, reason and lack of belief in any dogma, superstition or manifest falsehood.
- India had not produced many Nobel Prize winners in science “largely because of the lack of a scientific environment in the country”
- Prevalent orthodoxy: People several times do not believe in scientifically obtained solutions.
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Pseudoscience in the US: E.g. Christian revivalist groups in the U.S. have been fighting to bring Creationism into the science curriculum as an alternate theory to the origin of the human species.
Conclusion:
This 75th year of Independence should be seen as an opportunity for India to critically assess its successes and failures and prepare for a promising future. Science and scientific literacy have a key role in bringing home that future.
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Q. What is scientific temper? Discuss the need for inculcating scientific temper among the masses. (250 words)
