How is new knowledge produced in the social, natural, and biomedical sciences? What is the role of serendipity versus planning? How has technology changed knowledge production, from AI to large datasets? This book presents insights into the pursuit of new knowledge from fields as diverse as medicine, engineering, linguistics, and theology. Over twenty researchers and scientists describe the modalities of discovery in their disciplines, offering a diverse survey of the social norms and politics of knowledge. Written in nontechnical language, this collection is designed to make research practices from widely different domains comprehensible to each other. A generative synthesis in the final chapter offers new insights into how discovery happens and its consequences for science and society. On Discovery will be essential reading for anyone interested in philosophical and social dimensions of knowledge.
1. Introduction: on the question of discovery Jonathan Jansen; 2. Physics: extracting meaning from models Irvy Gledhill; 3. Philosophy: making philosophical discoveries Thaddeus Metz; 4. Psychology: discovery, solidarity and politics in psychology Leslie Swartz; 5. Biochemistry: creating new knowledge in the field of applied biochemistry Stephanie Burton; 6. Astronomy: discovering the stars Justin Jonas; 7. Dentistry: extracting knowledge from communities Stephen James Heinrich Hendricks; 8. Surgery: what the hands know Elmi Muller; 9. Theology: surfacing after being swallowed in the book of Jonah Juliana Claassens; 10. Architecture: authority, identity, and place in creating new knowledge Philippa Tumubweinee; 11. Palaeontology: the knowledge in the bones Anusuya Chinsamy Turan; 12. Music: on performing and discovering Mozart Stephanus Muller; 13. Law: three graces – certainty, originality, and justice Daniel Visser; 14. Genetics: discovering human origins through DNA Himla Soodyall; 15. Classics: inventio – Archimedes, Cicero and me Grant Parker; 16. Archaeology: archaeology as disaggregation and fragmentation of knowledge Innocent Pikirayi; 17. History: discovering social histories from the provinces Neil Roos; 18. Linguistics: discovery procedures in language and linguistic research Rajend Mesthrie; 19. Public health: following the data to save lives Quarraisha Abdool Karim; 20. Engineering: the search for a black cat in a dark room Thokozani Majozi; 21. Microbiology: discovering microbes Thulani Makhalanyane; 22. Conclusion: the discovery of new knowledge – an integrative synthesis Jonathan Jansen.
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