The extraordinary progress of the physical sciences in the last century has suggested to some that a particular way of thinking, termed "the scientific method," is especially productive. They propose applying it to other phases of thought and experience in the expectation of comparable advances. Yet efforts of this kind have generally not been fruitful in ethics and morals, for example, and religion is usually considered to be quite outside the range of such methods.
Nevertheless, valid scientific thought must adhere to the standards of logic, demonstrability, and repeatability that are characteristics of scientific reasoning. Rationality and precision are not confined to physics. If they are not recognized elsewhere, it is because perception has not been sufficiently acute. The true scientific method is found in Christian Science, without exception comprehending and elevating every aspect of being.
Although the scientific method is sometimes described in very specific terms as a definite sequence of discrete steps, the history of advances made in the physical sciences shows that a great variety of methods is actually used. Formulations of the scientific method are frequently simply formalizations of trial-and-error procedures. Significant steps of progress usually result from sudden insights, from intuitive perception and elaboration of new concepts arising out of pondering experiments and observations in correlation with the general web of interwoven thought that makes up the physical sciences. Although new experiments and fresh applications to physical concepts are often involved, the advance is invariably mental in essence.
