Experiments Before Science. What Science Learned from Technological Experiments

Abstract

Systematic experimentation is usually conceived as a practice that began with science, but this assumption does not seem to be correct. Historical evidence gives us strong reasons to believe that the first experiments were not scientific, but instead directly action-guiding technological experiments. Such experiments still have a major role for instance in technology and agriculture and (in the form of clinical trials) in medicine. The historical background of such experiments is tracked down, and their philosophical significance is discussed. Directly action-guiding experiments have a strong and immediate justification and are much less theory-dependent than other (scientific) experiments. However, the safeguards needed to avoid mistakes in the execution and interpretation of experiments are essentially the same for the two types of experiments. Several of these safeguards are parts of the heritage from technological experiments that science has taken over.