Abstract
The thesis that the process of scientific discovery involves logically analyzable procedures, as opposed to intuitive leaps of genius, has generally not been a popular one in this century. Since the advent of logical empiricism in the early twentieth century, the logic of science has been generally understood to be a logic of justification. Scientific discovery has been considered to be of interest to historians, psychologists, and sociologists, but has usually been barred from the list of topics that demand logical analysis by philosophers.
I would like to thank Richard Burian, F. Macfarlane Burnet, J. Lederberg, Thomas Nickles, H. E. Pople, Jr., Herbert A. Simon, and William C. Wimsatt for reading an earlier draft of this paper and for helpful comments. I also acknowledge with gratitude support from the U.S. National Science Foundation.
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Notes and References
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Schaffner, K.F. (1980). Discovery in the Biomedical Sciences: Logic or Irrational Intuition?. In: Nickles, T. (eds) Scientific Discovery: Case Studies. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 60. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-9015-9_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-9015-9_10
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