SECTION A
Essay
125 marks
The doubter is a true man of science.
WRITE IN
90 min
1,000–1,200 words
Reading the topic
The topic says the true scientist doubts, questioning accepted beliefs, testing claims and treating every result as provisional. Science advances not by certainty but by organised scepticism. The examiner expects the essay to show doubt as the engine of science, its role in fighting superstition and misinformation, and the line between healthy scepticism and cynical denial.
ThesisDoubt disciplined by evidence is the core of science, but doubt that ignores evidence becomes denial, so the true scientist doubts methodically and accepts what survives testing.
Dimensions to cover
- 1History: scientific revolutions began when individuals doubted authorities, from ancient texts to the church
- 2Method: science advances by trying to disprove ideas, so doubt is built into its very structure
- 3Society: doubt protects citizens from superstition, quackery and fake health claims
- 4Constitution: India makes developing scientific temper and the spirit of inquiry a citizen's duty
- 5Indian tradition: some Indian schools of thought urged testing teachings by experience rather than accepting them on authority
- 6Limits: manufactured doubt about vaccines or climate science misuses scepticism to deny strong evidence
Counter-view
- Some say science needs trust in established findings and that constant doubt would halt progress. The essay should agree that scientists build on accepted knowledge, but show that this knowledge became reliable precisely because it was doubted and tested
Open and close
- Open: Begin in a Vienna maternity ward in 1847 where a young doctor wonders why mothers die more often in the ward run by doctors than in the one run by midwives
- Close: Conclude that a society advances when it rewards honest doubt and distinguishes the sceptic who seeks evidence from the denier who refuses it
Where marks usually go
- Praising all doubt, including conspiracy theories and science denial
- Writing a list of inventions instead of explaining the role of doubt in method
- Reading 'man of science' narrowly as a lab scientist and ignoring scientific temper in citizens
Examples that fit
- HistoryGalileo's telescopic observations challenged the Earth-centred model, and in 1633 he was tried by the Roman Inquisition for supporting heliocentrism.Galileo in Rome, William R. Shea and Mariano Artigas
- HistoryIn 1847 Ignaz Semmelweis showed that hand-washing cut deaths from childbed fever, but colleagues who could not doubt their own practices rejected him.The Etiology, Concept and Prophylaxis of Childbed Fever (1861), Ignaz Semmelweis
- ThinkerKarl Popper argued that a theory is scientific only if it can be falsified, making doubt and testing the dividing line between science and non-science.The Logic of Scientific Discovery, Karl Popper
- LiteratureIn the Kalama Sutta, the Buddha advises not to accept teachings merely because of tradition or authority, but to test them by experience.Kalama Sutta, Anguttara Nikaya 3.65
- CaseArticle 51A(h), added in 1976, makes it a fundamental duty to develop scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform.Constitution of India, Article 51A(h), 42nd Amendment Act 1976