Some ideas seem to possess a disproportionate ability to lead to new insights, new discoveries, new ideas, and even entirely new ways of thinking. Such ideas are said to be fruitful. Looking across the history of science and mathematics, we see creative minds preoccupied with the search for ideas of this kind. More precious than truth, but far less plentiful, fruitful ideas provide those in pursuit of knowledge with a seemingly bottomless well of innovation from which to draw as they attempt to solve new problems and to refine solutions to old ones. Seasoned researchers have a nose for these ideas. They often know in an instant that some way of approaching a problem will eventually result in a solution to it and to a whole host of other problems, all of which suddenly seem related.
In Fruitfulness, Chris Haufe explains how these ideas are detected and developed into large-scale frameworks for research. He argues for a philosophical perspective on scientific knowledge that places the search for fruitfulness at the heart of the scientific enterprise. This perspective demands a fundamental shift in our thinking about scientific theories, conceiving of them as metaphors to facilitate research instead of increasingly correct descriptions of nature.
Industry Reviews
""Chris Haufe has written a very important book about potential fertility, one of the most significant virtues that a scientific theory can possess. A new theory can merit serious attention, despite having severe problems and few accomplishments, because it shows great promise. But how can its promise reasonably be judged? Drawing on a wealth of historical case-studies, Haufe explains how a new theory can provide open-ended tools and apt metaphors for
generating solvable problems. Written in a delightfully wry, irreverent style, Haufe's book will prove enormously fruitful."" -- Marc Lange, Theda Perdue Distinguished Professor, Department of Philosophy,
UNC-Chapel Hill
""Haufe makes a powerful and provocative case that we ought to think of scientific progress at least as much in terms of a dynamic quality of our attempts to model the world-fruitfulness-as in terms of static criteria such as truth or empirical success."" -- Michael Strevens, author of The Knowledge Machine and Professor of Philosophy, NYU
""Most scientists have far more ideas for research projects than time or resources. How do we decide which research avenues to pursue? And why do some solutions to questions arrive full of resolution to other questions? In responding to three challenges posed by Thomas Kuhn to the rationality of science, Chris Haufe develops the idea of fruitfulness as a motivating concern, for scientists pursuing fecund and solvable problems and for the special epistemic
status of science as an enterprise. This novel and insightful contribution warrants study by philosophers and scientists alike."" -- Douglas H. Erwin, Professor, Santa Fe Institute
"This finely written monograph explores the idea that scientific progress and the growth of knowledge, especially in moments of theoretical choice, are driven by fruitfulness.The bibliography of the book supports the author's thesis and is rich and appropriate." -- Philosophy of Science Information System
