Theory CB Author:HOLT The scientific method is often thought to imply an objective search for true knowledge in teh physical and social world. The scientist is supposed to be unbiased and interested only in obtaining a fair test of his own or someone else's ideas. Pursuing this goal, the scientist sets up some type of research and lets the results confirm or deny the... more » hypotheses. In reality, things are very different and the scientific arean is better understood as intellectual warfare fought by scientists who are passionate partisans of one theoretical point of view. This contest is, however, conducted with rather strict rules of procedure. These rules of procedure and adhereence to them despite widely divergent views are what contrasts and separates the scientific method and scientists from non-scientific fields.« less