James Tiefil: The Scientific Method

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COM 225 Take-Home Test Due 09/26/2013 Part One: According to James Tiefil, The scientific method is a three-step process (five-step according to Edisonian beliefs) that reveals itself frequently in daily life (page 1). The first step involves observing a specific scenario, usually where an anomaly is present, requiring further analysis to explain the observation, which leads to step two: explaining, or hypothesizing. During this step, the observer simply generates logical explanations as to why the anomaly is present, how the anomaly is occurring, etc. Further analysis includes what consequences may arise if the explanations are arranged and (on to step three) tested. This final testing phase tests a predicted outcome that was hypothesized…show more content…
An interesting question that Plato, Socrates, or Descartes may ask is, “What makes the insides of the human skull a brain in one person, yet a mind in another?” Another is, “Why were the native-Americans labeled as savages and the European settlers as sophisticates?” Basic questions containing who, what, where, when, why, etc., are stressed by these philosophes. Asking, of which, can lead to a newfound enlightenment. Brian Cooney references Descartes in his piece, Posthumanity: Thinking Philosophically about the future (page 13). Cooney quotes, “I shall stubbornly and firmly persist in this meditation; and even if it is not in my power to know any truth, I shall at least do what is in my power, that is, resolutely guard against assenting to any falsehoods, so that the deceiver, however powerful and cunning he may be, will be unable to impose on me in the slightest degree.” Cooney also refers back to Plato’s cave. A hopeless wall for lifelong prisoners to stare at for their entire lives, while the fire of life dances in the background behind them, projecting the shadows of life on the wall in front of them for them to…show more content…
Ivan Pavlov integrated the two into a step-by-step deductive process that connects behavioral reflexes to different sensory responses. Pavlov is the father of this type of classical conditioning; in his famous research on canine salivary glands, Pavlov triggered the different senses of the dogs. One example is when Pavlov substituted fake food in an attempt to trigger the dogs’ glands at the mere sight of food. If the dog salivated at first sight, but upon further inspection realized that it was, in fact, fake, then the dog has developed a conditioned response by learning with its smell and using multiple senses to further inspect future food triggers offered to it (the dog). With regard to measurement, Pavlov never had enough data. He measured the amount of saliva, through a glandular sieve and into small glass tube, four different ways. Pavlov believed that the more precise his data was, the more precise his theorized connections to the complex systems of the canine brain would be. That being said, Pavlov did not stop at essential needs like food and water; he also played different harmonic tones for the animals and measured their salivary response with regard to hearing as
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