Speculative activity is ... The role of this process in modern science

Every day we observe the world around us and draw conclusions based on our personal judgments and, without knowing it ourselves, we use the fruit of the greatest scientific discovery of the Middle Ages.

Do you often think?

It is from this issue that I want to start an article about the capabilities of our mind. We all know that in us there are two practically uninterrupted processes - this is consciousness and subconsciousness. The first is with us constantly during periods of wakefulness, but the second is practically invisible, and it is most active when we are dreaming.

From the very early childhood, we constantly think about something, but we do not even notice that thought is the result of a rather complex process that takes place on the expanses of our mind. Speculative activity is something that we are constantly engaged in, and it never even occurred to us that this process has been studied for several centuries in such sciences as philosophy and psychology. It would seem that everything is so simple - we just think about what we see, and we are already engaged in science! But this is not so.

What is the definition of the concept of "speculative"? The synonym for this word is mental, but it is also abstract or abstract. What role does it play in science? We'll talk about this below.

So what is it?

From the research point of view, speculative activity is such a process of our mind, as a result of which conclusions are drawn based solely on personal feelings that have nothing to do with any facts.

Let's try to confirm this with an example. Let's say we go to work in public transport, and a woman next to us sits next to us, on whose ring finger there is no wedding ring. And for some reason we are interested in this fact, and we begin to mentally spin up the information received: if her right hand is without ornaments, hence - she is not married. Whence such a conclusion? Exclusively from our consciousness. Maybe she just passed it to the jeweler or something else of that kind, but we have already started the process of our speculation. And, perhaps, having communicated with this woman, we would be able to change her mind.

Place in Science and Religion

It is surprising that speculative activity is the fundamental of all philosophical doctrines over the course of many centuries. Any sources that tell us about the essence of our being are nothing more than an ordinary inference that is in no way based on facts and has no practical implications. Neither in ancient times, nor in the Middle Ages, nor now, during the prosperity of high technologies, anyone, even the most experienced philosopher who devoted his entire life to the search for truth, can not back up the results of these teachings with facts.

It can also be said that speculative activity is the fundamental of any religious teachings, since it is difficult to prove the fact of the true existence of one or another deity without experimental confirmation. Human faith is only the fruit of the activity of consciousness.

Speculation in psychology

In the XVII century, the luminaries of the psychological science of the time came to the conclusion that the state of mind of a person can be determined through philosophical reflection, abandoning the experiments. It was in those days that the trend began, such as speculative psychology. And in fact, this discovery was a real breakthrough, which is actively used in our time.

In the modern world, the activity of psychoanalysts can be brought under this notion - the specialist listens to the referring patient and on personal conclusions helps him to reveal his own so-called "soul corridors."

Therefore, we can say that each of us, without knowing it, daily uses the speculative practice, which has its spread in science. It's worth thinking about.