Open-mindedness

In everyday life, our actions are often guided by what is commonly called "common sense." However, reality sometimes deviates from what is generally accepted, and open mindedness is the willingness to admit that it does not always coincide with our

preconceived notions

The scientific mind must be open to transcending common sense; its thinking must distance itself from spontaneous thought. It must accept the fact that there are ways of seeing things other than those that are familiar to

Self-mastery

This openness, which is essential in science, to anything that could change our initial impressions requires a work of self-mastery. We must leam to set aside our prejudices

and be willing to accept conclusions that contradict our preconceived notions

Furthermore, it can be tempting to draw conclusions without even having analyzed an given situation. However, for the scientific approach to be fruitful, it is important to be wary of common conceptions and spontaneous explanations, which come from our education or previous experiences. We must remain open to observations and to new, even unusual results

Importance of method

A distancing, a step back from our usual ways of doing and thinking is therefore necessary, because preconceived ideas can hide any new dimension of a phenomenon observed.

Indeed, prior certainties cloud the mind, making it blind to novelty. Humility

characterizes the scientific mind in the sense that it is always ready to question certainties and to admit that, with regard to the observed object, they were not well founded; for this, open-mindedness is important

This open-mindedness should not only manifest itself at the beginning of a research, but it should be maintained throughout it. It may be necessary to reject the initial proposals However, this rejection should not be seen as a failure, because the research does not lose its interest or value. Science progresses just as much, if not more, through negation, the refutation of its past constructions.