'Fleming Leapt on the Unusual like a Weasel on a Vole': Challenging the Paradigms of Discovery in Science

摘要

This paper describes and offers a corrective for problematic implications of classicparadigms of serendipitous discovery in science, such as the narrative thatFleming discovered penicillin. As usually told, an individual (Fleming) makesan isolated observation by chance (of mold in his petri dish) which leads inevitablyto a major discovery. Such stories leave out important interactions-emerging networks-that were equally important. Further, they perpetuatethe mistaken belief that the epistemology of discovery is mysterious. By reformingthe paradigm, I provide a social-epistemological grounding for the role of chancein science, and for the development of a skill-based epistemology of discovery.