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DEVELOPING SCIENTIFIC TEMPER From the time of our independence, beginning with Nehru, we have been saying "our people must develop scientific temper; then only we can progress". Scientists, political and social activists are all for this scientific temper. But what is this scientific temper? How can anyone develop it? I feel this is generally not clear. This is what I shall talk about today. Some consider scientific temper to be the same as rational thinking. Some consider it as not believing in superstitions. But I feel scientific temper is something more and somewhat different. Rational thinking is a subjective idea. Every thought is rational to the thinker at the time, in that state of mind. Later to him or others, it may appear irrational. Superstition is also based on an explanation put forward by somebody with incomplete knowledge and accepted by others as rational from their point of view. Nobody accepts anything that he considers irrational. Even among scientists, there are often debates as to which explanation is more rational. On the other hand, we often do what suits us, and then try to rationalise what we have done; this is finding excuses. Intuition often leads to action and if it succeeds, we look for the rationale later. This shows that what is rational to one, can be irrational to another. Equally, what is considered Rural Development Through Education System 174
