Reasoning About Novelty

Ulrich Witt

Papers on Economics and Evolution from Philipps University Marburg, Department of Geography

Abstract: Novelty is ubiquitous in science, technology, and economic life. It drives the growth of human knowledge. However, an analysis of novelty and its emergence faces deep epistemological and methodological problems. Despite its great significance, novelty is therefore a neglected topic in scientific discourse. To make headway, this paper distinguishes principles of generating and interpreting novelty. Insoluble problems are shown to reside in the interpretation part. At an abstract level, they can be circumvented and the nature and some effects of novelty be discussed. A notion of degrees of novelty can thus be derived and compared to degrees of (un-) certainty.

Date: 2005-12
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:esi:evopap:2005-24

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