Every day we observe the world around us and draw conclusions based on our personal judgments and, without suspecting it, we use the fruit of the greatest scientific discovery of the Middle Ages.
Do you often think?
It is from this question that I want to start an article about the abilities of our mind. We all know that two practically continuous processes are embedded in us - this is consciousness and the subconscious. The first one is with us constantly during waking periods, but the second one is almost imperceptible, and it manifests itself most actively while we are watching dreams.
From early childhood, we constantly think about something, but don’t even notice that thought is the result of a rather complicated process taking place in the vastness of our mind. Contemplative activity is what we are constantly doing, and it didn’t even occur to us that this process has been studied for centuries in such sciences as philosophy and psychology. It would seem that everything is so simple - we just think about what we see, but we are already doing science! But this is not so.
What is the definition of “speculative”? A synonym for this word is mental, but also similar activity can be called abstract or even abstract. What role does it play in science? We will talk about this below.
So what is it?
From a 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. Suppose we are going to work by public transport, and a woman sits next to us, on whose ring finger there is no wedding ring. And for some reason, this fact interested us, and we begin to mentally unwind the information received: if her right hand is without jewelry, therefore - she is not married. Where does this conclusion come from? Exclusively from our minds. Maybe she just handed it to a jeweler or something else like that, but we have already started the process of our speculation. And, perhaps, having talked with this woman, we could be convinced.
Place in science and religion
Surprisingly, speculative activity is the foundation of all philosophical teachings over the course of many centuries. Any sources that tell about the essence of our being are nothing more than the usual inference, which is in no way based on facts and has no practical background. Neither in ancient times, nor in the Middle Ages, nor now, during the period of the prosperity of high technology, any, even the most experienced philosopher, who devoted his whole life to the search for truth, can support the results of these teachings with facts.
It can also be said that speculative activity is fundamental to any religious teachings, since it is difficult to prove the fact of the true existence of one or another deity without experimental evidence. Human faith is just the fruit of the activity of consciousness.
Speculation in psychology
In the XVII century, the luminaries of psychological science of that time came to the conclusion that the state of mind of a person can be determined by philosophical reflection, abandoning experiments. It was in those days that such a direction as speculative psychology got its start. 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 summed up under this concept - a specialist listens to the patient who has applied and helps him to reveal his own so-called "spiritual corridors" on personal conclusions.
Therefore, we can say that each of us, without suspecting it, daily uses speculative practice, which has gained its distribution in science. It’s worth considering.