The Centrality of Discovery in Scientific Theorizing

Abstract

Scientific frame of mind consists in a certain mode of thinking and type of response to certain problems. In order to develop these qualities and attitudes one has to imbibe and internalize the dynamics of the method of science. But the vital question is, what is that pattern of thought, if at all it exists, that lies behind the discoveries of science?The answer to this question has something substantial to contribute to our knowledge of scientific method and therefore, to science training and to the philosophy of science education. The recognition of the centrality of discovery in scientific theorizing will enable us to realize what mode of thinking we must inculcate in the minds of science students and also how to enable them to see the relation between science and other domains of human creative endeavor such as art. An attempt is made in this paper to develop the philosophical position of Gary Gutting and Richard Burian on scientific discovery against the backdrop of Thomas Nickles ideas of problems and constrints. These two philosophers of science have succeeded in brining to fore the idea of problems and constraints as the pivotal concepts in characterizing scientific thinking. It is true that Karl Popper was the first philosopher to emphasize the role of problems in scientific thinking. However, he stopped at it without laying bare the texture of the scientific problematic, a task which is very ably performed by Gutting and Richard Burian who have been taken the problem of discovery as the central methodological issue. Most importantly their position on scientific discovery fundamentally distinguishes itself from the conservative views in terms of categorial reorientation, which replaces the old categories by the new ones through which the essential nature of science is described and explained. As will be elaborated in the following discussion, these changes have fundamentally altered the discourse about discovery in ways that can be of momentous significance to science education, formal or otherwise.