[LUM#1] Knowledge in the Making
Through what processes is knowledge constructed? The epistemology of science sheds light on the issues at the heart of the creation and dissemination of knowledge.
Muriel Guedj is certain of one thing: when it comes to research, nothing is certain.“What shapes the daily progress of science? It is doubt, more than certainty.” Doubt, trial and error, hypotheses, experimentation, failure, dead ends… Far from being mere hiccups along the way, these constitute the very stages in the construction of scientific discourse—the dynamic principles of its genesis—explains this historian of science.“It’s actually kind of the opposite of what we’re taught in school!” she remarks with a smile.
Check the error status
“The discovery of an error is one of the crucial moments—the most creative of all—in any work of discovery (…)”explained a renowned rebel against what is taught in school: Alexandre Grothendieck, a pioneering genius who recently passed away. And the great mathematician added: “To fear error and to fear the truth is one and the same thing.”
Reexamining the nature of error: this is one of the requirements of epistemology, that science of sciences which is also a branch of philosophy. A rich error. A fruitful error! One that occasionally opens up unexpected perspectives. There are countless essential discoveries that resulted from reasoning based on inaccurate hypotheses—such as the discovery of penicillin or vaccines—as well as fruitful theoretical advances, entire sections of which were later found to be erroneous…
Does scientific progress move from one truth to the next? Nothing could be less certain. As Henri Poincaré pointed out, while science cannot advance without venturing down the uncertain path of hypothesis, it is precisely by risking error that it truly progresses. We might as well accept it: science is not that long, tranquil river traversed by daring explorers that people like to paint for us. Rather, it is a constantly active construction site, marked by the unexpected and accidents.
Restoring the Human Dimension to Science
When it comes to a somewhat idealized scientific approach, epistemology invites us to take a more human and detached perspective.“We must move beyond scientism, ”summarizes Muriel Guedj. “The collective imagination presents a vision of science that is as simplistic as it is out of touch with reality: a polished object that has all the appearances of absolute truth.”
The first concept to demystify is that of scientific truth:“What we call truth is often a step along the way, reached at the end of a journey that can sometimes be chaotic. But be careful—scientific truths are still necessary! And when they need to be revised, it’s not because they’re relative but because they’re incomplete.” Far from being a fixed entity, science is a collective endeavor in which conjectures, propositions, and proofs build upon one another over time.
Doesn’t knowledge spring fully formed from Zeus’s head? That’s reassuring: it means we can make it our own—this mysterious creative process through which discoverers invent new lands… Epistemology thus invites us to engage in a healthy process of inquiry:“Exploring the processes of knowledge construction means restoring science’s human face. At the same time, it helps students and young researchers let go of their inhibitions: it allows them to fully engage with this field of expression and make its methods their own.”
Social Issues
While epistemology focuses on the ways in which knowledge is produced, it also examines the historical and social context of scientific activity.“The work of a researcher is by no means an autonomous or even individual activity. It is embedded in a sociocultural context and bears the mark of numerous societal and political issues.” An example? There are countless ones. Here is one, perhaps more striking than others: Darwin’s theory of evolution, a tumultuous battleground for ideological clashes and religious controversies.
Scientific discourse thus forges far more subtle and complex ties with society than it might seem. The role of the epistemologist is therefore to uncover the layers and nuances that constitute it. Their method: to examine bodies of knowledge, define them, and contextualize them.“Placing a discovery within its context, culture, and history—even if it’s a differential equation!—means outlining the contours of knowledge as an object: the only way to truly grasp it,” explains Muriel Guedj.
All epistemologists
This work is carried out for the greatest benefit of the public. The goal? To enable everyone to better understand the major societal debates. There are countless such debates, whether they relate to the environment, climate, new energy sources, natural resources, biotechnology, food, and so on…
This has become a particularly critical issue in the Internet age. While the web provides access to enormous amounts of data, it is this very abundance that, paradoxically, complicates access to knowledge, making it increasingly difficult to carry out this necessary task: separating the wheat from the chaff.
“What is changing is our entire relationship with knowledge, ” summarizes the epistemologist. “Today, students no longer come to class to acquire knowledge but to question it, contextualize it, critique it, and take a step back from it.” By revolutionizing not only access to knowledge but also teaching methods, the digital revolution may have this unexpected result: turning us all into epistemologists.
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