Design Rules: Industrial Research and Epistemic Merit
Year: 2006
Type: article
Abstract: A common complaint against the increasing privatization of research is that research that is conducted with the immediate purpose of producing applicable knowledge will not yield knowledge as valuable as that generated in more curiosity-driven, academic settings. In this paper, I make this concern precise and reconstruct the rationale behind it. Subsequently, I examine the case of industry research on the giant magnetoresistance effect in the 1990s as a characteristic example of research undertaken under considerable pressure to produce applicable results. The example permits one to arrive at a more optimistic assessment of the epistemic merits of private, application-driven research. I attempt to specify the conditions that, in this case, advanced the production of interesting and reliable knowledge.
Source: Philosophy of Science
DOI: 10.1086/510175
Author: Torsten Wilholt
Institution: Bielefeld University
Language: English
Subfield: Information Systems and Management
Field: Decision Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2086112968