Scientific discovery consists of the processes by which new ideas are articulated and developed. It is a central topic of philosophical inquiry. However, the nature of discovery remains controversial.
Until the late 20th century, there was wide agreement that scientific discovery, narrowly conceived, entailed a non-analyzable creative leap of insight. Philosophers therefore were compelled to demonstrate that discovery was a legitimate subject of philosophical analysis (section 8).
Early 17th and 18th century philosophers developed rich accounts of the methodology of scientific inquiry, often with the aim of bolstering particular theories of natural phenomena. These studies are usually not explicitly labelled as “philosophies of discovery”, but they represent early contributions to reflections on the process of knowledge generation and proper scientific reasoning.
These studies were typically concerned with the “colligation” of facts by bringing them under a general conception, and the clarification of ideas through the exposition of the definitions and axioms that are tacitly implied in those concepts. They involved, as well, various techniques for verifying and testing ideas and experimenting with hypotheses.
In more recent times, the focus of philosophical discussion has shifted to scientific creativity. This approach has been influenced by resources from empirical sciences such as cognitive science, neuroscience, and psychology, and has sought to demystify the creative process by clarifying what it is that generates new ideas. This approach also involves examining the reasoning patterns that are employed in the generation of these new ideas in an attempt to provide a more rational account of the eureka moment.
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