Mathematical thought and the scientific task

Abstract

Mathematical and scientific thought are contextualized manifestations of reflexive thought, defined as the process of meanings formation that takes an individual from one experience to another with a deeper understanding of its relationships with other experiences and ideas. In this essay a reflection on the reasoning processes behind scientific knowledge, the role of mathematical thought in the building of such a knowledge, and its implications
on the teaching of science will be addressed. Part of the reflection is focused on the characterization of the kind of reasoning that leads toward the posing
of conjectures and the search of its validation; we are referring to deductive, inductive, and abductive kind of reasoning, and how its combination guide scientific inquiry.