La cuestión del contexto de descubrimiento en la historiografía: Un análisis de la relación entre ?descubrimiento? e ?invención? de relatos e interpretaciones historiográficas

BELVEDRESI, ROSA; TOZZI, VERÓNICA

MANUSCRITO

Centro de Lógica, Epistemología e História da Ciencia

Lugar: Campinas; Año: 1999 vol. 22

0100-6045

The possibility of distinguishing between a context of discovery (concerned with the production and development of hypotheses and theories) and a context of justification (concerned with the logical analysis of such hypotheses and theories) has been almost exclusively considered in the field of the philosophy of natural and formal sciences. We can find three paradigmatic positions on this topic. First, the so-called "standard" conception, which regards the distinction in question as a logical difference between a psycological process of discovery, on the other hand, a set of logical arguments and inferences of justification, on the other. Second, there is the position common to both Kuhn and the Sociology of Science, which sustaines that there isn't any logic o rationality in either the discovery or the justification. Acording to this, both of them must be analyzed by Sociology, Psycology or the History of sciences. Third, the so-called "friends of discovery" reject the distinction as well, but for other reasons. From their perspective, it is possible to show there are some rational, even logical, processes and inferences in the context of discovery. In this paper, we board the possibility of a rationality of discovery in the historiography. In the first place, we examine what "discovery" means in the historical research. In the second place, we explain what the relationship between discovery and justification looks like in that discipline. Finally, we try to give some interesting insights so as to ground the possibility of a rational account of both contexts for the historical case.