The Language of Discovery

Wiley Souba

doi:10.5210/disco.v6i0.3634

Abstract

Discovery, as a public attribution, and discovering, the act of conducting research, are experiences that entail "languaging" the unknown. This distinguishing property of language - its ability to bring forth, out of the unspoken realm, new knowledge, original ideas, and novel thinking - is essential to the discovery process. In sharing their ideas and views, scientists create co-negotiated linguistic distinctions that prompt the revision of established mental maps and the adoption of new ones. While scientific mastery entails command of the conversational domain unique to a specific discipline, there is an emerging conversational domain that must be mastered that goes beyond the language unique to any particular specialty. Mastery of this new conversational domain gives researchers access to their hidden mental maps that limit their ways of thinking about and doing science. The most effective scientists use language to recontextualize their approach to problem-solving, which triggers new insights (previously unavailable) that result in new discoveries. While language is not a replacement for intuition and other means of knowing, when we try to understand what's outside of language we have to use language to do so.

Highlights

On February 28, 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick walked into the Eagle pub in Cambridge, England to have lunch
Watson and Crick had discovered the double‐helical structure of DNA, cracking the code of genetic instructions for all life on earth. Their breakthrough discovery transformed the world of science, ushered in the age of molecular biology, and opened up vast new possibilities for the application of nucleic acid research
Good ideas come from cultivated fluid networks of idea‐sharing; “what is generally accepted as scientific knowledge is essentially the outcome of a process by which knowledge is reshaped as it passes through the hands of people with different agendas using different language” [47]

Summary

Introduction

On February 28, 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick walked into the Eagle pub in Cambridge, England to have lunch. While scientific mastery entails command of the conversational domain unique to a specific discipline, there is an emerging conversational domain that must be mastered that goes beyond the language unique to any particular specialty Mastery of this new conversational domain gives researchers access to their hidden mental maps and frames of reference that limit their ways of thinking about and conducting science, thereby creating new possibilities for furthering the discovery process. “The experience of language,” emphasizes Edie [31], “is the experience of meaning par excellence; it is our route of access to the realm of ‘the meant,’ of ‘sense’ and ‘signification.’” For example, whatever mental processes led Einstein to conclude that time was not constant, his inner thoughts, insights, and feelings at the moment were fashioned, at least in part, in language His discoveries could only be shared and made meaningful in language. Good ideas come from cultivated fluid networks of idea‐sharing; “what is generally accepted as scientific knowledge is essentially the outcome of a process by which knowledge is reshaped as it passes through the hands of people with different agendas using different language” [47]

Our Distinctions Define the Limits of What We See as Possible

Using Language More Effectively