Q&A: Innovation
Innovation
Question
For example, did Newton, who discovered the law of gravitation (I saw online that in Hebrew it’s called the law of gravity), or Copernicus, who discovered that the earth is not flat—did they innovate something, create an innovation, or did they merely uncover something? And the same applies to Torah: for example, when Rabbi Shimon Shkop developed an approach, did he innovate something, or merely uncover something that already existed potentially in the world and only brought it into actuality? In other words, is someone who uncovers something considered an innovator? It seems to me that in fact there is nothing new under the sun and there is no real innovation in the world, only that over the generations people uncover things that we did not know before, though they already existed. Every generation and its interpreters, every generation and its uncoverers… What do you think?
Answer
First, I think Copernicus was not connected to the shape of the earth, but rather to the question of what revolves around what (the earth and the sun).
And as for your question, this is really just a matter of definition. A scientific discovery is never the creation of something, but the discovery and exposure of something that exists. Science does not create a world; it tries to understand it. But the scientific idea is still an innovation, for two reasons: 1. People had not thought of it before. 2. The way the truth is presented can itself be innovative, because there are several ways to present the same truth.
As for Torah insights, that of course depends on your point of view. If you think the conceptual Torah theories are an invention, then it is certainly an innovation, but it does not have much significance (because it is just a subjective game). Or, if they uncover something that already exists, then it is like science.
And regarding mathematics, it depends on Platonism. See my columns on that.