La práctica de la investigación científica y la noción del juego del lenguaje

Abstract

Scientific research, as equivalent to methodology of science, has been traditionally approached from different viewpoints as those provided by formal logic, sociological and historical analyses, ethnographic description, and psychological interpretations. A model based upon Ludwig Wittgenstein's notion of language-game is proposed, in which scientific research as a process is examined  in terms of an  individual practice. This practice consists in differentiated behavioral interactions being regulated by three main factors: the root-metaphor and the model which sustain the scientist's beliefs and representations, the language-games involved in the various aspects of the scientific research process, and (he exemplar made of (he logical categories, theoretical concepts and methodological criteria being practiced. The advanlages of this model as compared lo other approaches to this matter are contrasted, stressing its usefulness as a systematic and heuristic instrument lo deal with scientific knowledge as a special kind of behavior.