Why is scientific inquiry important?

Answer 1

Because science has become the uncritical default "religion" of many people it is important to understand both the strengths and weaknesses of science and the scientific method. Science is said to be primarily about observation and deduction, but often little attention is paid to the underlying philosophy. The fact that our prior assumptions, or preconceptions, strongly influence what we believe we have observed has given rise to major controversies. The fact that in practice (the observed history of science), science is as much about personalities and politics as any other human endeavor, is also frequently overlooked by many. The elitism and snobbery that tends to accompany academia does little to promote a clear understanding of what science is and is not for the understanding of the average intelligent person. There also needs to be a clearer distinction made in the mind of the average citizen between what is commonly called "hard" and "soft" sciences. Hard as in a very high probability of the current theory being an accurate description of reality for practical use, further advancement of scientific discovery, and technological applications. Soft as in fuzzy and not well defined or descriptive of reality because the application of mathematical analysis cannot be rigorous (too many fudge factors and essentially "wild" guesses involved), all the Social Sciences, economics, climatology, evolutionary Biology, etc. fall more into this category, and yet this is often not honestly acknowledged by the scientific elite, or widely understood by the man in the street.

Answer 2

Scientific inquiry is important because it gives us a chance to solve problems by using what we already know. It forces us to use our critical thinking skills. At the end of the scientific inquiry, we end up learning something new that we have never learned before. It also gives us the chance to become scientifically curious.

I hope this helps :)