Science Forums 2

[coberst]

Philosophy of Science: Science is About Solving Puzzles

I think that understanding the concept ‘paradigm’ and the nature of puzzle solving are two necessary conditions for understanding the concept ‘science’.

I suspect many fail to recognize that ‘science’ has the general meaning “a department of systematized knowledge as an object of knowledge”. ‘Science’ is generally a word used to denote the natural sciences or more likely technology in general.

Normal science—as Thomas Kuhn labels it in “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions” moves forward in a “successive transition from one paradigm to another”. A paradigm defines the theory, rules and standards of practice. “In the absence of a paradigm or some candidate for paradigm, all of the facts that could possible pertain to the development of a given science are likely to seem equally relevant.”

Practitioners of normal science are expert puzzle-solvers. “One of the things a scientific community acquires with a paradigm is a criterion for choosing problems that, while the paradigm is taken for granted, can be assumed to have solutions…One of the reasons why normal science seems to progress so rapidly is that its practitioners concentrate on problems that only their own lack of ingenuity should keep them from solving.”

Practitioners of normal science have:
1) A paradigm that defines the theory, rules and standards of practice.
2) Expertise as puzzle-solvers. Puzzles are assumed to have solutions.
3) A criterion for choosing problems for solution.
4) Concrete problems for solution i.e. problems with solutions and only lack of ingenuity causes failure.

I suspect that it is a common mistake to think that natural sciences are so successful because of the creative faculties of the scientist rather than their ingenuity at puzzle solving. Kuhn and I think the success rests on the puzzle solving skills of the practitioners.

Ingenious—marked by especial aptitude at discovering, inventing, or contriving; marked by originality, resourcefulness, and cleverness in conception or execution

Creative—bring into existence, to invest with a new form, office, or rank; to produce through imaginative skill; to make or bring into existence something new.