261044 The rationality and rationalization of scientific discovery - philosophical and historical perspectives (GradS) (SoSe 2016)

This seminar will deal with historical, philosophical and psychological approaches to describe the process of scientific discovery. The question that will be pursued in the course of the seminar is whether the process of scientific discovery can be rationalized and what the term „rational“ may imply in this context. As will be further discussed, there are at least three positions concerning the rationalization of scientific discoveries: The first is that these cannot be rationalized at all, at least not from a philosophical point of view – the ways in which scientists gain ideas remain within a psychological and unaccessible space. The second is that there might be patterns or paths of how discoveries are made, but these patterns are often determined or at least strongly influenced by the respective social and historical environment of the scientist; it is then questionable whether these patterns can at all be generalized and if yes, what such a generalization might look like from a historical point of view. Advocates of the third position approach the rationality of scientific discovery processes in the context of human problem-solving. The general idea behind this is that scientific discovery is a cognitive process guided by the application of certain problem-solving strategies.