Scientific discovery is what enables us to understand why the stars move as they do, why the oceans are salty or full of life, why our bodies heal themselves, and many more things. To advance knowledge in these fields, scientists study the metabolism of fruit bats, examine the mechanics of swimming fish, and wander through prairie plants or crab-infested eelgrass beds to learn what they can about the world around them.
For Whewell, a key element in the process of scientific discovery was binding together-“colligating” as he put it-a set of facts by bringing them under a general conception. This included the specification of new facts through systematic observation, measurement and experiment as well as the clarification of ideas through exposition of the definitions and axioms that are tacitly implied by those ideas. It was a long and extended process.
Much of the 20th century philosophical controversies about the possibility of a philosophy of discovery can be understood against the background of the different elements that were separated out of this general conception. One major difference was the question whether the articulation and development of a happy thought is, or is not, part of the discovery process; and, if so, how this process might be guided by rules.
Other approaches to the methodology of discovery focus more directly on the procedures that are involved in devising a new hypothesis. These include weak evaluations that are relevant in the phase of finding and articulating a hypothesis worthy of further assessment.