CRITICAL THINKING AND THE EVOLUTION OF UNIVERSAL SCIENTIFIC TECHNOLOGY

Abstract

This piece discusses the role of human knowledge in the evolution of science and technology from a philosophical perspective. The study shall show that although philosophy began with myth, it however took its distance from it. Philosophy's disassociation from myth was done on an epistemological footing. Such began the problem of how humans acquire trustworthy knowledge of phenomena in an environment. This has consequently remained a perennial epistemological issue. This work shall refer to such problem as the 'human epistemological conditions for selfpreservation'. It is a notion derived from the activities of science as a product of the human enterprise called 'knowledge' which is paramount to how we cognize the world. Scientific cognition therefore, is a derivative of a critical attitude towards all aspects of human realities. Such cognition is sharpened by philosophical skepticism; which is the attitude of never taking anything for granted. A salient question therefore, is how far and well can the philosophical skepticism be sustained in a futuristic world? This library-based qualitative study is expository, analytic, synthetic and critical. The research is done within the theoretical framework of John Dewey's idea of 'reflective thinking', a precursor to a scientific attitude of mind. The study is significant because it shows that critical philosophical thinking is a sine qua non for human advancement. It is the wake-up call for a critical attitude towards the quest for knowledge which can improve our natural tendency for self-preservation and the advancement of humanity.