Question

What do you understand by scientific method in historical studies?

Answer 1

The history of scientific method considers changes in the methodology of scientific inquiry, as distinct from the history of scienceitself. The development of rules for scientific reasoning has not been straightforward; scientific method has been the subject of intense and recurring debate throughout the history of science, and eminent natural philosophers and scientists have argued for the primacy of one or another approach to establishing scientific knowledge. Despite the disagreements about approaches, scientific method has advanced in definite steps. Rationalist explanations of nature, including atomism, appeared both in ancient Greece in the thought of Leucippus and Democritus, and in ancient India, in the Nyaya, Vaisesika and Buddhist schools, while Charvaka materialism rejected inference as a source of knowledge in favour of an empiricism that was always subject to doubt. Aristotle pioneered scientific method in ancient Greece alongside his empirical biology and his work on logic, rejecting a purely deductive framework in favour of generalisations made from observations of nature.

Answer 2

The Scientific method in historical studies simply means use and collection of empirical facts and cross-check of sources of an event. The primary sources should be cross-checked with secondary sources and literary sources with archaeological sources. Explanation is very important and it should support the reason as well.

The historians use historical evidences to support their argument and theory.Unbiased interpretation and interpretation of facts in presence of related evidences is very important to understand the events in history.