Something from Nothing: Exploring Non-discovery and Negative Claims. ...

Discovery claims dominate popular imaginations of progress and innovation in science. How such claims are assembled from mundane practices and situated in complex historical and material conditions has been a long-standing interest of STS research. One insight is that much of the day-to-day work of researchers is directed towards establishing ‘negative knowledge’ i.e. the limits of knowledge as a precondition for positive claims (Knorr-Cetina, 1999).

Building on these insights, we would like to explore ‘negative claims’, i.e. assertions of non-existence or the exclusion of (expected) results. Negative claims are not only ‘by-products’ of research, but can be conceived as transformative. Both ‘successful’ episodes (such as, the claim that humans do not behave according to the predictions of rational choice models) and ‘unsuccessful’ episodes (such as, a shift in research strategies in high-energy physics following a potential new particle turning into a statistical fluke) illustrate the transformations of knowledge and practices following negative claims.

After a discovery claim is established, the world is reported to be different; in contrast, when you lose something you never had, seemingly nothing has changed. We suggest the exploration of the question ‘what has changed’ from a different angle, based on the observation that negative claims often violate expectations and thus need to be accommodated practically and conceptually. In this panel, we invite contributions that explore negative claims, broadly construed. We are looking for case studies from all fields of research and conceptual contributions that engage with the various ways in which the ‘negative’ is transformative.