If you want to pursue these questions, I think that studying philosophy of science is the way to go. The undergrad texts written by Godfrey-Smith, Ladyman, and Rosenberg are all good. There is also a Very Short Introduction to Objectivity that I found helpful . Also, search Wikipedia for the Merton Norms for related ideas.
All of these authors take the view that the role of philosophy of science is to understand what makes the practices of science successful.