Who is a scientist? An attempt at a concise definition

Radoslaw Spiewak

Department of Experimental Dermatology and Cosmetology, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, Poland

(How to cite: Spiewak R: Who is a scientist? An attempt at a concise definition. Galen 2025; 32: art001. DOI: 10.14320/Galen.2025.vol32.art001)

Do people know who are scientists?

A major problem with defining the term "scientist" is that virtually everyone knows, who scientist is and has more or less accurate idea what a scientist does. Nevertheless, this imagination seems mostly shaped by the popular culture, including films, books. The problem is similar to the definition of the term "science" [Okasha 2002, Spiewak 2014]. Hencefore, for the teaching purposes, I have proposed the following working definition in the hope that it will clarify the role and the position of the scientist in the society and civilization.

A proposal of the defition of the term "scientist"

A scientist is a person who seeks, collects and organizes information on the material world by means of observation, critical reasoning and inference with the aim of better understanding its phenomena and processes. The scientist is distinct from other kinds of observers through a purposeful and systematic manner of acquiring information, as well as exercising the awareness of the possibility of error and the estimation of its risk as parts of work routines. The collective intellectual output of scientists serves a better understanding of observable phenomena and might be used to predict, change or create new phenomena.

References

1. Okasha S. Philosophy of science. A very short introduction. Oxford University Press 2002
2. Spiewak R: What is science? (in Polish) Galen 2014; 21: art001. DOI: 10.14320/Galen.2014.vol21.art001

GALEN (e-ISSN 1233-7838) is an oldest medical journal online. Published since 1994.

Uwaga: This information service is directed to physicians, pharmacists and other medical professionals. The informations presented on this page may not be in keeping with the present state of art in medicine and law. You use the service at your own risk. The use of this service does not constitute a medical consultation.

a n n o u n c e m e n t s

This is an open access resource. All rights reserved to respective authors (text) and the Publisher (presentation, source code).
Unauthorized use, including by artificial intelligence (AI), is not allowed.
Document created: 1 April 2025, updated: 13 April 2025.