How to understand the essential characteristics of science is its method.

Practice must be carried out in a scientific way, which is the only criterion for testing truth. Whether the test is true science or pseudoscience is up to practice. However, practice must be carried out in accordance with scientific methods in order to obtain reliable beliefs. If we practice in a way that goes against science and logic, we often get false truth. The following joke vividly illustrates this point. In order to prove that the crab's hearing is in the leg, an expert caught a crab and shouted at it. The crab quickly ran away. Then grab it and yell at it, and the crab runs away again. Finally, the expert cut off the crab's leg and shouted at the crab. The crab did not move. Experiments prove that the expert's judgment is correct, and the crab's hearing is indeed on the leg.

There are two important signs of scientific method: empirical observation and self-correction (1). The first characteristic of scientific method is to emphasize systematic empirical observation. There is no way to build beliefs that relies on data obtained from systematic observation of the real world like scientific methods. It requires researchers to carefully draw conclusions after observing a large number of phenomena, carefully consulting literature and systematically conducting scientific experiments. Therefore, the systematic empirical observation characteristics of scientific methods make the process of belief establishment unique and objective.

(2) The second characteristic of scientific method is that it can correct itself. The scientific facts obtained from the empirical observation of scientific system have two characteristics: they can be obtained openly and repeatedly. It is these two characteristics that enable science to correct itself. Through public observation, we can clearly know the alternative beliefs, so as to constantly compare the old and new beliefs and decide to choose; After repeated observation, people are more cautious in the process of accepting or excluding beliefs. Only after repeated verification can the reliability of the belief be guaranteed, and only after repeated negation can the belief be ruled out and the belief be avoided to give up rashly. Therefore, open and repeated empirical observation is the cornerstone of scientific method, which makes science have the property of self-correction.

In a word, the essential feature of science is its method.