A Flaw in the Scientific Method? Edward de Bono

I recently posted this quotation from Edward de Bono in my LinkedIn feed.

If you are setting out to work in a new field you should thoroughly research that field. Right?

Wrong!

The traditional view is that you should read all that you can in order to get the base of existing knowledge and then move forward from this.

There is a flaw in this argument and it is a flaw in the scientific method.

We do not just get knowledge, we get knowledge packaged up as concepts and perceptions.

Credit: Edward de Bono

I’m afraid I have to disagree that it is a flaw in the scientific method. Still, it’s an interesting thought and has had a mixture of comments on LinkedIn, some supporting the view, others disagreeing.

Take a look — what do you think?

When I originally designed the Knowledge Café, I deliberately did not look at the World Café as I did want to be biased by their process — I wished to think things through from scratch.

It was only later that I reviewed their method and discovered the Knowledge Café had some key differences that I felt were an improvement on the World Café. I very much doubt I would have come up with those differences if I had studied the World Café process first.

So in some circumstances, I think it makes good sense not to look at what has gone before but of course always to look at it afterward.

Becoming Agile: an International Festival of Learning (26 – 29 April)

Most of Our Knowledge Is a Delusion