The article problematizes the concept of scientific innovation. The authors focus their attention on an ambiguous understanding of the conditions for its emergence and its completion. They use two terms — conflict and solidarity — to define these conditions. In their extreme forms, behavior in conflict situations and solidarity practices oppose each other in two ways: there is contention and rejection of a different position, on the one hand, and “mechanical solidarity” (Durkheim), on the other. However, the intersection and even the coincidence of these practices are possible and actually realized, when described in terms of cooperation, on the one hand, and “organic solidarity” associated with the division of labor, on the other. The article aims, firstly, to describe the possibility of opposing conflict and solidarity in the processes of producing scientific innovation; secondly, to demonstrate the importance of intersecting and even combining these practices to produce and complete novelty in science. In their research, the authors address contemporary works from the fields of historiography and epistemology of science, revealing the concept of the Scientific Revolution, which refers to the emergence of a new science, as well as the concept of modernity, that defines the era in which scientific innovation sets the rhythm and the acceleration of social development. It is in the context of various interpretations of the concepts Scientific Revolution and modernity the concept of innovation is being clarified. The latter not only describes the event and the era of the emergence of modern European science, but also suggests possible contemporary scientific practices.
Science and Dissent