The structure of this book is therefore tripartite. On the first level, we wish to demonstrate that, far from being arcane or inaccessible, the scientific approach is simply a variant of normal, common experience and judgment, easily accessible to any educated person. The second goal is to explain the structure of scientific thinking, which we will describe as the requirement for evidence, logic, and falsification (experimental testing). The third goal is to illustrate the scientific method by looking at the story of the development of the idea of evolution.
Evolution is a branch of scientific inquiry that is distinguished by its minimal level of laboratory experimentation, as least in its early period. Nevertheless, the story of evolution seems for several reasons to be an excellent choice to examine the nature of scientific inquiry. First, it is, almost without doubt, the most important idea of the 19th and 20th centuries. Second, it is often misunderstood. Third, understanding the story does not require an extensive technical background.