It is obvious that each invention avails itself of the previously accumulated knowledge and modes of thought; but in most cases it makes a start in advance upon what is known; it makes a leap in the unknown, and thus opens a quite new series of facts for investigation.
Kropotkin emphasizes that inventions often leap beyond existing knowledge, creating new areas for investigation.
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More from Petr Alekseevich Kropotkin
Science, down to the present day, remains permeated with Malthus’s teachings.
Almost every year brings some new, often unexpected improvement in the art of agriculture, which for so many centuries had been dormant.
That so small an area of land can produce so much wealth is nothing short of astonishing.
And wherever the village-community spirit is maintained, the small industries persist, while no effort is spared to bring the small plots under higher culture.
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