Article ID: CBB110759570

Discovery and Instrumentation: How Surplus Knowledge Contributes to Progress in Science (2019)

unapi

An important fact about human labor is that it can result not just in reproduction of what it started with, but in something new, a surplus product. When the latter is a means of production, it makes possible a mechanism of change consisting of reproduction by means of the expanded means of production. Each iteration of the labor process can differ from the preceding one insofar as it incorporates the surplus generated previously. Over the long-term, this cyclical process can lead to the self-transformation of labor and, through it, of human societies and cultures. In this paper, I argue that this mechanism of change is also at work in the history of science. I argue that the form this mechanism takes in science is that of a feedback loop between discovery and instrument construction. This process requires the integration, and transformation into material form, of different kinds of knowledge. Based on this mechanism, I defend a concept of scientific progress as transcendence of the limitations of native human epistemic abilities. I also criticize narrowly biologistic approaches to the history of science for ignoring the role of surplus generation in transforming the labor process, and discuss some problems associated with viewing science as labor.

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Authors & Contributors
Javier Pérez-Jara
Lalevee, Thomas
Herschthal, Eric
Mizrahi, Moti
Vergara, Moema de Resende
Talairach-Vielmas, Laurence
Concepts
Progress, ideas of
Science and society
Philosophy of science
Diffusion of innovation; diffusion of knowledge; diffusion of technology
Discovery in science
Evolution
Time Periods
19th century
20th century
18th century
21st century
20th century, late
20th century, early
Places
United States
Great Britain
France
Brazil
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