Scientific discovery is what enables scientists to advance knowledge that can lead to new inventions that benefit people. This discovery science can take many forms, from studying the metabolism of fruit bats to analyzing how fish swim or taking note of how ants and primates heal wounds. Scientists conduct this research in model organisms such as yeast, fruit flies and nematode worms. But discoveries can also be made by looking at human cells or in computer simulations of biological systems.
Among the different ways that philosophical discussion of scientific discovery has evolved, one response focuses on processes of devising hypotheses. This approach to scientific discovery aims at redrawing the boundaries between discovery and justification that were drawn in the early 20th century. Such approaches typically employ what have been called “weak evaluation procedures” in the context of devising hypotheses. These procedures are based on the assumption that scientific discoveries follow a distinctive logic that is distinct from inductive and hypothetico-deductive reasoning.
In contrast, other responses recast scientific discovery as a kind of problem solving activity. These approaches typically involve a combination of conceptual analysis of the nature of scientific knowledge generation with empirical work on actual scientific practices, drawing heavily on cognitive and historical studies of problem-solving strategies. This heuristics-based approach to scientific discovery has recently gained in popularity as philosophers have become more attuned to actual scientific practices and empirical research on human cognition.
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