Towards a science of ideas. Between knowledge and innovation
The academic discourse on ideas seems highly fragmented, imprecise and incomplete. Certainly, there is extensive literature about creativity and idea generation in psychology, and there are numerous publications on innovation in management sciences and business administration. Little, however, has been published about ideas as such. Substantial interdisciplinary research on the working mechanisms and patterns of ideas in the various realms (science, economics, society) is almost absent. There is no over-arching theory on ideas. In the last centuries there have been some marginal attempts to develop a ‘science of ideas’ (e.g. Antoine Destutt de Tracy, Genrich Altshuller, Patrick Gunkel). Though audacious, stimulating and provoking, these attempts have gained too little attention in the mainstream academic discourse. An ‘idea as such’ is predominantly taken for granted; it seldom becomes an explicit object of study and reflection; it remains a ‘black box’.
The aim of this book is to focus on ideas as such – what they are and how they emerge, develop, interact, gain acceptance and are translated into actions. It presents a tour d’horizon both of the definitions and meanings of the concept ‘idea’ and the conditions under which ideas arise. The book explores the synchronicity of ideas, their taxonomies, and classification; it searches for similarities, patterns and working mechanisms behind the surface of manifested ideas. Special attention is given to the combination and recombination of ideas, the modes of their development in connection to prevailing scientific and societal concepts. It shows how ideas grow, become accepted or refuted, travel across social environments, and are put into practice.
Our ambition is to pave the way for new intellectual perspectives by focusing specifically on ideas. We aim to stimulate fundamental and theoretically refined discussions that will compete with ‘mainstream’ academic discourse about creativity and innovation. We try to offer new theoretical insights by extensively drawing on classical sources, and by combining them with up-to-date concepts. Besides, we bring our insights against the backdrop of a renewed interest for some original, yet almost forgotten thinkers like Antoine Destutt de Tracy, Genrich Altshuller and Patrick Gunkel. In doing so, we aim to formulate a research agenda for a science of ideas.
Science of Ideas 