Scientific discovery is a high-level human cognitive process that leverages our unique ability to creatively develop and design goal-guided experiments. It satisfies scientists’ yearning for progress, and helps them translate discoveries into results that benefit people. Scientific discovery also helps us to understand the world around us. It includes experiments on cells, yeast, nematode worms, mice and computational systems; as well as research in fields such as astronomy, biology, chemistry, medicine and physics.
Scientific discovery starts with observing or realizing an anomaly, followed by a search for explanations. This search requires that the investigator change his or her paradigm to accommodate these new observations and explanations. It also requires that he or she formulate a hypothesis to test. This hypothesis, called a ‘happy thought’ by Whewell, is a form of collligation that brings together a set of facts and shows them in a new light. Then comes the process of verification, a procedure that ensures that the hypothesis is true and explains and predicts phenomena that have not yet been observed or tested.
These different lines of response all begin with the premise that a philosophy of discovery can legitimately integrate conceptual analysis of processes of knowledge generation with empirical work on creativity, drawing heavily on current research in psychology and cognitive science (e.g., Kounios & Beeman 2009, Thagard & Stewart 2011). These responses also draw on a variety of resources from the history of science and problem-solving theory to develop their own interpretations of the nature of discovery processes.