The Challenge of Practice: Einstein, Technological Development and Conceptual Innovation

Abstract

The pioneers of the scientific revolution claimed that the developing system of knowledge they envisioned would be distinguished by its practical usefulness. Galileo Galilei, Francis Bacon, and René Descartes agreed that the newly conceived endeavor of unveiling nature’s secrets by means of uncovering its lawful regularities would engender practical progress, too. The novel and revolutionary idea was that knowledge of the causes and the laws of nature would pave the way toward technological innovation. As Bacon claimed, inventions bring about supreme benefit to humankind, and this aim is best served by investigating the processes underlying the operations of nature. Knowledge about nature’s workings makes it possible to take advantage of its forces [1, I.§129]. In the same vein, Descartes conceived of technology as an application of this novel type of knowledge. The speculative and superficial claims that had made up the erudition of the past had remained barren and had failed to bear practical fruit. The principles of Descartes’ own approach, by contrast, promised to afford