Bihar Board Class 11 English Chapter 5 – The Scientific Point of View

Bihar Board Class 11 English Chapter 5 The Scientific Point of View: “The Scientific Point of View” is an important prose chapter from Rainbow Part 1 for Bihar Board Class 11 English. The essay discusses the importance of scientific thinking in everyday life and explains how a scientific attitude can help people examine facts objectively instead of being guided only by emotions, prejudice and traditional beliefs.

The chapter also explains an important limitation of science. Science can discover facts, examine causes and predict consequences, but it cannot by itself decide what is morally right or wrong. The essay therefore makes an important distinction between scientific knowledge, scientific attitude and moral judgment.

In this post, students can find the Bihar Board Class 11 English Chapter 5 The Scientific Point of View summary, textbook questions and answers, important questions, word meanings, phrases, composition topics and grammar exercises.

Bihar Board Class 11 English Chapter 5 The Scientific Point of View – Overview

Bihar Board Class 11 English Chapter 5 The Scientific Point of View – Summary

The essay explains that science has changed the life of the average person in many ways. People use scientific inventions and discoveries every day, often without thinking about the scientific knowledge behind them. Cars, modern medicine, communication systems and other inventions are examples of the practical benefits of science.

Science has also changed people’s opinions. Earlier, many people explained natural events through superstition or traditional beliefs. Scientific knowledge has encouraged people to question such explanations and search for evidence and natural causes.

The author argues that the scientific point of view is more than simply accepting scientific inventions. It means developing a habit of examining facts critically, being willing to change one’s opinion when evidence demands it and avoiding prejudice.

According to the scientific attitude, a person should try to be impartial. A scientist does not decide the importance of an object merely from an emotional point of view. A tiny organism and a vast astronomical system can both become subjects of scientific investigation.

The essay compares scientific impartiality with the impartiality expected from a judge. A good judge tries to be fair to both sides of a legal case. A scientist goes even further in one sense because scientific investigation attempts to examine very different phenomena without allowing personal feelings to determine the result.

The author also explains that scientific investigation can produce a curious mixture of pride and humility. Scientists discover how parts of nature work, but their discoveries also reveal how complicated the universe and human body are.

One of the most important arguments in the essay is that science cannot determine what is morally right or wrong. Science can explain the consequences of an action, but deciding whether that action is morally acceptable requires ethical judgment.

For example, a scientist can explain the effects of pollution on human health. However, science alone cannot decide the moral question of whether deliberately causing such pollution is right or wrong. Scientific facts and moral judgments therefore belong to different areas.

The essay further discusses social prejudice and racial discrimination. A scientific approach should examine facts rather than allow emotional or political beliefs to determine conclusions about different groups of people.

The author also rejects the simplistic idea that people can solve health problems merely by “returning to nature”. Modern medicine, public sanitation, vaccination and scientific understanding have significantly improved human health and life expectancy.

Finally, the author calls for the general adoption of the scientific point of view. People should apply rational and evidence-based thinking not only inside laboratories but also to everyday social, political and personal problems.

What Is the Scientific Point of View?

The scientific point of view means approaching a problem through facts, evidence, reasoning, observation and critical examination. A person with a scientific attitude does not accept an idea merely because it is traditional or popular.

Scientific thinking also requires impartiality. If evidence contradicts an existing belief, a scientifically minded person should be prepared to reconsider that belief.

Science and Scientific Point of View – Difference

Important Themes of The Scientific Point of View

Bihar Board Class 11 English Chapter 5 – A. Work in Small Groups

Question 1. Why do people cover their head with a towel while walking in the scorching sun?

Answer: People often cover their heads with a towel because it provides protection from direct heat and sunlight. It can also help reduce the discomfort caused by excessive heat and evaporation from the body.

Question 2. What do you understand by science? What are the basic tools of science?

Answer: Science is systematic and organised knowledge based on observation, experiment and reasoning. Its basic tools include a curious and questioning mind, the willingness to experiment, careful observation, study of existing knowledge and critical thinking.

Question 3. What is scientific point of view? Is science different from scientific point of view?

Answer: The scientific point of view is an approach to life based on facts, reasoning, observation, experiment and impartial judgment. Science and scientific point of view are related but not identical. Science provides organised knowledge and discoveries, while the scientific point of view is a method of thinking that can be applied to everyday situations.

B.1.1 – Complete the Following Sentences

1. Driving in a motor-car is an example of the benefits obtained from the application of science.
2. An example of the impact of science on our opinions is the inculcation of scepticism.
3. The object of the author in this essay is to make man take things from a scientific point of view.
4. The best utilisation of science is to apply it to the events of daily life.
5. The two charges against science are that it is deaf to moral considerations and interferes in ethical problems.

B.1.2 – Short Answer Questions

Question 1. Name two ways in which science affects the average man and woman.

Answer: Science affects ordinary people in two major ways. First, people benefit from scientific inventions and discoveries. Second, scientific knowledge influences their beliefs and opinions. People use modern transport and medicine, and they increasingly replace superstition with evidence-based explanations.

Question 2. What do you understand by scientific point of view? Can it help us in daily life?

Answer: The scientific point of view is an approach based on reason, evidence and impartial examination. Yes, it can help us greatly in daily life. It enables us to examine problems rationally, control our actions more effectively and avoid decisions based only on prejudice or superstition.

Question 3. What does “impartiality” mean in connection with scientific viewpoints?

Answer: Impartiality means examining facts without allowing personal feelings, prejudice or preference to influence the conclusion. A scientist should try to consider evidence objectively even when the result is different from what he expected.

Question 4. How is scientific impartiality different from legal impartiality?

Answer: A judge tries to be impartial between two parties in a legal dispute. Scientific impartiality is broader because a scientist attempts to study different objects and phenomena according to evidence rather than their emotional or social importance. A scientist may investigate both a tiny organism and a huge astronomical system with the same intellectual objectivity.

Question 5. What leads scientists to pride and humility?

Answer: Scientific knowledge can produce pride because a scientist may possess specialised knowledge that few other people have. At the same time, scientific discoveries reveal the enormous complexity of nature and the universe. This awareness produces humility.

Question 6. What makes it difficult for scientists to understand their own minds?

Answer: A scientist may understand many external systems but still have limited control over the complicated chemical and biological processes operating within his own body. The complexity of the human mind and body therefore reminds the scientist of the limits of his own knowledge.

Question 7. What do you understand by “God’s eye-view”?

Answer: “God’s eye-view” refers to a completely impartial perspective in which all things are considered without personal preference or emotional prejudice. The scientific point of view can resemble this because it attempts to study different phenomena objectively.

Question 8. Can science determine what is right or wrong?

Answer: Science can determine facts and consequences, but it cannot independently decide moral values. A scientist can explain the harmful effects of pollution, for example, but deciding whether deliberately causing pollution is morally wrong requires ethical judgment.

B.2.1 – Complete the Following Sentences

1. The average man dwells on the emotional and ethical side of a case rather than all the facts.
2. Scientists are interested in finding out truthful and impartial facts.
3. Scientific investigation challenges claims of racial or social superiority by examining evidence rather than prejudice.
4. In some circumstances the birth rate and death rate of a population may differ because of social and environmental conditions.
5. People often allow emotions to influence their beliefs even when those beliefs are not rational.
6. According to older beliefs, disease was sometimes regarded as punishment for sin.
7. According to scientific thinking, disease is a manifestation of natural causes and laws.
8. The first step in a supposed return to nature would involve rejecting many developments of civilisation.
9. Scientific progress has helped increase the life expectancy of people.

B.2.2 – Short Answer Questions

Question 1. How is the tendency of the average man different from that of scientists?

Answer: The average person is often influenced by emotions, personal prejudice and moral assumptions. A scientist, on the other hand, attempts to examine facts systematically and impartially. Scientific thinking therefore places greater emphasis on evidence and objective analysis.

Question 2. Why should facts be examined scientifically instead of emotionally?

Answer: Emotional judgment can be influenced by prejudice, fear and personal preference. Scientific examination attempts to separate facts from emotions. This makes it easier to understand causes and consequences accurately.

Question 3. How does scientific thinking challenge racial prejudice?

Answer: Scientific thinking examines biological and social facts instead of accepting claims of racial superiority merely because they are popular. It can therefore expose unsupported assumptions and encourage a more objective understanding of human differences.

Question 4. How did the American Civil War affect the Negro population?

Answer: The historical discussion in the essay shows that war and social conditions had serious effects on the Negro population. The author uses demographic information to demonstrate how population growth, death rates and living conditions must be examined through facts rather than political prejudice.

Question 5. How is Jesus Christ’s attitude to disease close to the attitude of scientists?

Answer: The essay contrasts older beliefs that regarded disease as punishment for sin with a more natural explanation. The attitude attributed to Jesus is presented as closer to the scientific approach because disease is not simply treated as a moral punishment. Scientific thinking looks for natural causes and practical remedies.

B.3 – Short Answer Questions

Question 1. Name important causes which help civilised men live longer than uncivilised men.

Answer: Modern medicine, vaccination, sanitation, better nutrition, public health measures, medical research and improved living conditions contribute to longer life expectancy among civilised populations.

Question 2. Why does the author compare a human body to a system?

Answer: The human body operates through interconnected processes governed by definite biological laws. The author uses the example of diabetes to show that the body requires appropriate treatment and regular care. Understanding the body as a system encourages people to follow scientific medical advice.

Question 3. Why is individual effort not enough to fight some diseases?

Answer: Some diseases depend heavily on environmental conditions and public health systems. Controlling contaminated water, airborne diseases and other large-scale health risks requires collective action and government support in addition to individual responsibility.

Question 4. Name three airborne diseases.

Answer: Diphtheria, smallpox and measles are examples of diseases discussed in the context of airborne transmission in the lesson.

Question 5. Why does the author demand the general adoption of the scientific point of view?

Answer: The author believes that scientific thinking can help people replace prejudice, superstition and emotional conflict with rational examination. If people apply evidence-based thinking to everyday problems, many unnecessary conflicts and mistakes can be reduced.

Question 6. Explain the phrase “the rulers of the darkness of this world”.

Answer: The phrase refers to the powers or forces associated traditionally with spiritual darkness and evil. The author uses the expression in a broader discussion of older beliefs and attitudes that scientific thinking seeks to examine critically.

C.1 – Long Answer Questions

Question 1. “Science cannot determine what is right or wrong, and should not try to.” Why does the author say so?

Answer: Science is concerned with discovering facts, identifying causes and explaining consequences. It can tell us what may happen if a particular action is taken, but it cannot by itself decide whether that action is morally right or wrong.

For example, a scientist can study the harmful effects of polluted water and calculate the number of people who may become ill. However, the scientific evidence alone does not establish the complete moral judgment about the person or institution responsible for the pollution. That judgment belongs to ethics and society.

Therefore, the author argues that science should remain within its proper field. Scientific knowledge is extremely powerful, but moral decisions require values, responsibility and ethical reasoning.

Question 2. Do you agree with the author’s view that science should not try to determine what is right or wrong?

Answer: Yes, science should not be treated as the sole authority for moral decisions. Science can provide essential evidence about consequences, risks and effects. Ethical decisions, however, involve questions of human dignity, justice, responsibility and values.

For example, science can explain how a new technology works and what risks it creates. Whether society should use that technology in a particular way requires ethical and social discussion as well. Thus, science should inform moral decisions without replacing moral reasoning.

Question 3. What do you mean by “ethically neutral”? Can science be ethically neutral?

Answer: “Ethically neutral” means that a field of knowledge does not itself declare whether an action is morally good or bad. Science can describe facts and consequences without automatically attaching moral value to them.

For instance, a scientist can determine the effects of pollution on human health. The scientific result itself is factual. The moral judgment that deliberately causing such harm is wrong comes from ethical reasoning.

Science can therefore be methodologically neutral in this sense, although scientists as human beings may and do have ethical responsibilities regarding how scientific knowledge is developed and used.

Question 4. Why does the author feel that discovery of drugs does not protect people very much?

Answer: Medicines are important, but many diseases cannot be controlled through medicines alone. Prevention may require sanitation, clean water, vaccination, environmental control and public health measures.

For example, if contaminated water repeatedly causes disease, treating individual patients without improving the water supply does not solve the underlying problem. Similarly, controlling certain infectious diseases requires collective action.

Therefore, the author emphasises that scientific knowledge must be applied to public health and environmental conditions as well as individual treatment.

Question 5. Will a return to nature help overcome diseases?

Answer: The author does not support the simplistic idea that returning to an imagined natural lifestyle will automatically eliminate disease. Nature itself includes disease, infection and death. Human beings have used scientific knowledge to develop medicine, sanitation and other methods that protect health.

Modern civilisation certainly has some unhealthy practices, but abandoning scientific progress is not a practical solution. Instead, people should use scientific knowledge to identify harmful practices and improve living conditions.

Question 6. Why is scientific thinking important in modern society?

Answer: Modern society faces complex problems involving health, environment, technology, economics and public policy. Scientific thinking helps people distinguish evidence from unsupported claims and make better-informed decisions.

It also encourages intellectual humility. A person should be willing to revise an opinion when reliable evidence proves it wrong. This attitude is valuable not only in laboratories but also in ordinary social life.

C.2 – Group Discussion

Question 1. Should science be given the privilege to decide what is right or wrong?

Answer: Science should not be given sole authority to decide moral questions. It should provide reliable evidence that helps society understand the consequences of different choices. Moral decisions require ethical principles, human values and social judgment in addition to scientific knowledge.

Question 2. Is science deaf to moral consideration?

Answer: Science as a method is concerned primarily with facts and evidence, but scientists are human beings who have moral responsibilities. Scientific discoveries can be used for beneficial or harmful purposes. Therefore, scientists and society must consider the ethical consequences of scientific applications even though scientific methodology itself focuses on factual investigation.

C.3 – Composition

Science and Morality

Answer: Science and morality are two important aspects of modern life. Science helps us understand nature, develop technology and improve human health. Morality helps us decide how knowledge should be used responsibly. A scientific discovery may be beneficial in one situation and harmful in another depending on its application. Therefore, scientific progress should be accompanied by ethical responsibility. Scientists should consider the possible consequences of their work, while society and governments should establish suitable rules for technologies that can affect human life. Science gives us knowledge and power, while morality helps us use that power responsibly. Both are necessary for the welfare of humanity.

Racial Discrimination, Apartheid and Human Rights

Answer: Racial discrimination is the unfair treatment of people on the basis of race or ethnic background. Apartheid was an extreme system of racial segregation that existed in South Africa. Such discrimination violates the basic principle that all human beings deserve equal dignity and rights. Modern democratic societies recognise equality before the law and reject racial superiority. Education and scientific thinking can also help challenge unsupported prejudices about human groups. Respect for human rights requires equal opportunities, freedom and dignity for every person regardless of race, colour or origin.

How Far Has the Scientific Point of View Been Adopted in India?

Answer: India has made considerable progress in science, technology, medicine and education. Scientific institutions, space research, digital technology and modern healthcare show the country’s achievements.

However, unscientific beliefs and superstitions continue to exist in many parts of society. People may sometimes rely on astrology, superstition or unsupported claims even when scientific explanations are available. A stronger scientific point of view requires not only scientific institutions but also a habit of questioning claims, checking evidence and avoiding blind belief.

Word Study – The Scientific Point of View

Word Formation

Word Meanings – Important Usage

Phrases – Important Uses

Grammar – Simple Past and Past Perfect

The grammar exercise of this chapter includes the use of Simple Past and Past Perfect. The Past Perfect is generally used to show that one past action happened before another past action.

Exercise – Correct Forms

1. Kavita wanted to know what her husband did last week.
2. Mahesh was unable to tell his teacher where he got the money.
3. My friends asked me what countries I had visited.
4. The doctor told me that he had gone to Goa for a holiday.
5. My father lost his new shoes shortly after he had bought them.

Grammar – If-Clause

The chapter also includes conditional sentences. An If-Clause describes a condition and its possible result.

Complete the Following Sentences

1. If the weather is fine, Naghaz will come.
2. If it rains in the evening, the match will be postponed.
3. If you eat too much, you will ruin your health.
4. If Ajeet helps me, I will get the job.
5. If you don’t hurry, you will miss the opportunity.

Important Questions from Bihar Board Class 11 English Chapter 5 The Scientific Point of View

• What is science?
• What are the basic tools of science?
• What is the scientific point of view?
• How does science affect the average man and woman?
• What does impartiality mean in scientific thinking?
• How is scientific impartiality different from legal impartiality?
• What creates pride and humility in scientists?
• What is meant by “God’s eye-view”?
• Can science determine what is right or wrong?
• How is the tendency of the average person different from that of scientists?
• Why is scientific thinking important in the treatment of disease?
• Why does the author compare the human body to a system?
• Why does the author demand general adoption of scientific thinking?
• What does “ethically neutral” mean?
• Will a return to nature help overcome diseases?
• Why should science not be treated as the final authority on morality?

Exam-Oriented Points – The Scientific Point of View

How to Prepare Bihar Board Class 11 English Chapter 5

1. Read the complete essay and understand the meaning of scientific point of view.
2. Learn the difference between science and scientific thinking.
3. Prepare the short-answer questions from B.1.2, B.2.2 and B.3.
4. Practise the long-answer questions from C.1.
5. Understand the concept of scientific impartiality.
6. Prepare the question about science and morality carefully.
7. Revise word meanings, word formation and important phrases.
8. Practise Simple Past and Past Perfect carefully.
9. Revise the If-Clause structures and examples.

Class 11 English Chapter 5 The Scientific Point of View – FAQs

Important Links

Conclusion

Bihar Board Class 11 English Chapter 5 The Scientific Point of View teaches students the importance of rational, evidence-based and impartial thinking. Scientific thinking does not mean accepting every modern invention blindly; it means examining claims carefully and being prepared to change one’s opinion when facts demand it.

The chapter also explains the limits of science. Science can discover facts and explain consequences, but questions of morality require ethical judgment. The lesson is therefore important not only for examination preparation but also for developing a rational approach to everyday life.

Students should revise the complete exercise, especially the questions related to scientific impartiality, morality, disease, scientific thinking and the application of science in daily life.