Thomas Samuel Kuhn (; July 18, 1922 – June 17, 1996) was an American
philosopher of science
A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
whose 1962 book ''
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
''The Structure of Scientific Revolutions'' (1962; second edition 1970; third edition 1996; fourth edition 2012) is a book about the history of science by philosopher Thomas S. Kuhn. Its publication was a landmark event in the history, philosophy ...
'' was influential in both academic and popular circles, introducing the term ''
paradigm shift
A paradigm shift, a concept brought into the common lexicon by the American physicist and philosopher Thomas Kuhn, is a fundamental change in the basic concepts and experimental practices of a scientific discipline. Even though Kuhn restricted t ...
'', which has since become an English-language idiom.
Kuhn made several claims concerning the progress of
scientific knowledge
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
: that scientific fields undergo periodic "paradigm shifts" rather than solely progressing in a linear and continuous way, and that these paradigm shifts open up new approaches to understanding what scientists would never have considered valid before; and that the notion of scientific truth, at any given moment, cannot be established solely by
objective
Objective may refer to:
* Objective (optics), an element in a camera or microscope
* ''The Objective'', a 2008 science fiction horror film
* Objective pronoun, a personal pronoun that is used as a grammatical object
* Objective Productions, a Brit ...
criteria but is defined by a consensus of a
scientific community
The scientific community is a diverse network of interacting scientists. It includes many " sub-communities" working on particular scientific fields, and within particular institutions; interdisciplinary and cross-institutional activities are als ...
. Competing paradigms are frequently
incommensurable; that is, they are competing and irreconcilable accounts of reality. Thus, our comprehension of science can never rely wholly upon "objectivity" alone. Science must account for
subjective perspectives as well, since all objective conclusions are ultimately founded upon the subjective conditioning/worldview of its researchers and participants.
Early life, family and education
Kuhn was born in
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
,
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
, to Minette Stroock Kuhn and Samuel L. Kuhn, an industrial engineer, both
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
.
From kindergarten through fifth grade, he was educated at Lincoln School, a private
progressive school
Progressive education, or protractivism, is a pedagogical movement that began in the late 19th century and has persisted in various forms to the present. In Europe, progressive education took the form of the New Education Movement. The term ''pro ...
in Manhattan, which stressed independent thinking rather than learning facts and subjects. The family then moved north to the small town of
Croton-on-Hudson, New York
Croton-on-Hudson is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 8,327 at the 2020 United States census over 8,070 at the 2010 census. It is located in the town of Cortlandt as part of New York City's northern subu ...
where, once again, he attended a private progressive school –
Hessian Hills School Hessian Hills School (1925–1952) was a progressive school in the Mount Airy neighborhood of Croton-on-Hudson, New York. The school was founded as a community school by Elizabeth Moos and Margaret Hatfield. Children were welcomed from age 2 to 15. ...
. It was here that, in sixth through ninth grade, he learned to love mathematics. He left Hessian Hills in 1937. He graduated from
The Taft School
The Taft School is a private, coeducational school located in Watertown, Connecticut, United States. It teaches students in 9th through 12th grades and post-graduates.
About three-quarters of Taft's roughly 600 students live on the school's ...
in Watertown, Connecticut, in 1940.
He obtained his
BSc
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...
degree in
physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
from
Harvard College
Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...
in 1943, where he also obtained
MSc and PhD degrees in physics in 1946 and 1949, respectively, under the supervision of
John Van Vleck
John Hasbrouck Van Vleck (March 13, 1899 – October 27, 1980) was an American physicist and mathematician. He was co-awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1977, for his contributions to the understanding of the behavior of electronic magnetism ...
. As he states in the first few pages of the preface to the second edition of ''
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
''The Structure of Scientific Revolutions'' (1962; second edition 1970; third edition 1996; fourth edition 2012) is a book about the history of science by philosopher Thomas S. Kuhn. Its publication was a landmark event in the history, philosophy ...
'', his three years of total academic freedom as a
Harvard Junior Fellow
The Society of Fellows is a group of scholars selected at the beginnings of their careers by Harvard University for their potential to advance academic wisdom, upon whom are bestowed distinctive opportunities to foster their individual and intell ...
were crucial in allowing him to switch from physics to
the history and
philosophy of science
Philosophy of science is a branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. The central questions of this study concern what qualifies as science, the reliability of scientific theories, and the ultim ...
.
Career
Kuhn taught a course in the history of science at Harvard from 1948 until 1956, at the suggestion of university president
James Conant. After leaving Harvard, Kuhn taught at the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
, in both the philosophy department and the history department, being named Professor of the history of science in 1961. Kuhn interviewed and tape recorded Danish physicist
Niels Bohr
Niels Henrik David Bohr (; 7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962) was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. B ...
the day before Bohr's death.
At Berkeley, he wrote and published (in 1962) his best known and most influential work: ''The Structure of Scientific Revolutions''. In 1964, he joined
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
as the M. Taylor Pyne Professor of Philosophy and History of Science. He served as the president of the
History of Science Society
The History of Science Society (HSS) is the primary professional society for the academic study of the history of science. It was founded in 1924 by George Sarton, David Eugene Smith, and Lawrence Joseph Henderson, primarily to support the publi ...
from 1969 to 1970. In 1979 he joined the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
(MIT) as the
Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Philosophy, remaining there until 1991.
''The Structure of Scientific Revolutions''
''The Structure of Scientific Revolutions'' (''SSR'') was originally printed as an article in the ''
International Encyclopedia of Unified Science
International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations".
International may also refer to:
Music Albums
* ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011
* ''International'' (New Order album), 2002
* ''International'' (The T ...
'', published by the
logical positivists
Logical positivism, later called logical empiricism, and both of which together are also known as neopositivism, is a movement in Western philosophy whose central thesis was the verification principle (also known as the verifiability criterion o ...
of the
Vienna Circle
The Vienna Circle (german: Wiener Kreis) of Logical Empiricism was a group of elite philosophers and scientists drawn from the natural and social sciences, logic and mathematics who met regularly from 1924 to 1936 at the University of Vienna, cha ...
. In this book, heavily influenced by the fundamental work of
Ludwik Fleck
Ludwik Fleck (11 July 1896 – 5 June 1961) was a Polish Jewish and Israeli physician and biologist who did important work in epidemic typhus in Lwów, Poland, with Rudolf WeiglT. Tansey (2014) ''Typhus and tyranny'', ''Nature'' 511(7509), 291 ...
, Kuhn argued that science does not progress via a linear accumulation of new knowledge, but undergoes periodic revolutions, also called "
paradigm shift
A paradigm shift, a concept brought into the common lexicon by the American physicist and philosopher Thomas Kuhn, is a fundamental change in the basic concepts and experimental practices of a scientific discipline. Even though Kuhn restricted t ...
s" (although he did not coin the phrase, he did contribute to its increase in popularity), in which the nature of scientific inquiry within a particular field is abruptly transformed. In general, science is broken up into three distinct stages. Prescience, which lacks a central paradigm, comes first. This is followed by "
normal science Normal(s) or The Normal(s) may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Normal'' (2003 film), starring Jessica Lange and Tom Wilkinson
* ''Normal'' (2007 film), starring Carrie-Anne Moss, Kevin Zegers, Callum Keith Rennie, and Andrew Airlie
* ''Norma ...
", when scientists attempt to enlarge the central paradigm by "puzzle-solving". Guided by the paradigm, normal science is extremely productive: "when the paradigm is successful, the profession will have solved problems that its members could scarcely have imagined and would never have undertaken without commitment to the paradigm".
In regard to experimentation and collection of data with a view toward solving problems through the commitment to a paradigm, Kuhn states: "The operations and measurements that a scientist undertakes in the laboratory are not 'the given' of experience but rather 'the collected with difficulty.' They are not what the scientist sees—at least not before his research is well advanced and his attention focused. Rather, they are concrete indices to the content of more elementary perceptions, and as such they are selected for the close scrutiny of normal research only because they promise opportunity for the fruitful elaboration of an accepted paradigm. Far more clearly than the immediate experience from which they in part derive, operations and measurements are paradigm-determined. Science does not deal in all possible laboratory manipulations. Instead, it selects those relevant to the juxtaposition of a paradigm with the immediate experience that that paradigm has partially determined. As a result, scientists with different paradigms engage in different concrete laboratory manipulations."
During the period of normal science, the failure of a result to conform to the paradigm is seen not as refuting the paradigm, but as the mistake of the researcher, contra
Karl Popper
Sir Karl Raimund Popper (28 July 1902 – 17 September 1994) was an Austrian-British philosopher, academic and social commentator. One of the 20th century's most influential philosophers of science, Popper is known for his rejection of the cl ...
's
falsifiability
Falsifiability is a standard of evaluation of scientific theories and hypotheses that was introduced by the philosopher of science Karl Popper in his book ''The Logic of Scientific Discovery'' (1934). He proposed it as the cornerstone of a sol ...
criterion. As anomalous results build up, science reaches a ''crisis'', at which point a new paradigm, which subsumes the old results along with the anomalous results into one framework, is accepted. This is termed ''revolutionary science''.
In ''SSR'', Kuhn also argues that rival paradigms are
incommensurable—that is, it is not possible to understand one paradigm through the conceptual framework and terminology of another rival paradigm. For many critics, for example
David Stove
David Charles Stove (15 September 1927 – 2 June 1994) was an Australian philosopher.
Philosophy
His work in philosophy of science included criticisms of David Hume's Inductive scepticism. He offered a positive response to the problem of ...
(''
Popper and After
''Popper and After: Four Modern Irrationalists'' is a book about irrationalism by the philosopher David Stove. First published by Pergamon Press in 1982, it has since been reprinted as ''Anything Goes: Origins of the Cult of Scientific Irrationali ...
'', 1982), this thesis seemed to entail that theory choice is fundamentally
irrational
Irrationality is cognition, thinking, talking, or acting without inclusion of rationality. It is more specifically described as an action or opinion given through inadequate use of reason, or through emotional distress or cognitive deficiency. T ...
: if rival theories cannot be directly compared, then one cannot make a rational choice as to which one is better. Whether Kuhn's views had such
relativistic consequences is the subject of much debate; Kuhn himself denied the accusation of
relativism
Relativism is a family of philosophical views which deny claims to objectivity within a particular domain and assert that valuations in that domain are relative to the perspective of an observer or the context in which they are assessed. Ther ...
in the third edition of ''SSR'', and sought to clarify his views to avoid further misinterpretation.
Freeman Dyson
Freeman John Dyson (15 December 1923 – 28 February 2020) was an English-American theoretical physicist and mathematician known for his works in quantum field theory, astrophysics, random matrices, mathematical formulation of quantum m ...
has quoted Kuhn as saying "I am not a Kuhnian!", referring to the
relativism
Relativism is a family of philosophical views which deny claims to objectivity within a particular domain and assert that valuations in that domain are relative to the perspective of an observer or the context in which they are assessed. Ther ...
that some philosophers have developed based on his work.
''The Structure of Scientific Revolutions'' is the single most widely cited book in the social sciences. The enormous impact of Kuhn's work can be measured in the changes it brought about in the vocabulary of the philosophy of science: besides "paradigm shift", Kuhn popularized the word ''
paradigm
In science and philosophy, a paradigm () is a distinct set of concepts or thought patterns, including theories, research methods, postulates, and standards for what constitute legitimate contributions to a field.
Etymology
''Paradigm'' comes f ...
'' itself from a term used in certain forms of
linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
and the work of
Georg Lichtenberg
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1 July 1742 – 24 February 1799) was a German physicist, satirist, and Anglophile. As a scientist, he was the first to hold a professorship explicitly dedicated to experimental physics in Germany. He is remembered fo ...
to its current broader meaning, coined the term "
normal science Normal(s) or The Normal(s) may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Normal'' (2003 film), starring Jessica Lange and Tom Wilkinson
* ''Normal'' (2007 film), starring Carrie-Anne Moss, Kevin Zegers, Callum Keith Rennie, and Andrew Airlie
* ''Norma ...
" to refer to the relatively routine, day-to-day work of scientists working within a paradigm, and was largely responsible for the use of the term "
scientific revolutions" in the plural, taking place at widely different periods of time and in different disciplines, as opposed to a single
scientific revolution
The Scientific Revolution was a series of events that marked the emergence of modern science during the early modern period, when developments in mathematics, physics, astronomy, biology (including human anatomy) and chemistry transfo ...
in the late Renaissance. The frequent use of the phrase "paradigm shift" has made scientists more aware of and in many cases more receptive to paradigm changes, so that Kuhn's analysis of the evolution of scientific views has by itself influenced that evolution.
Kuhn's work has been extensively used in social science; for instance, in the
post-positivist
Postpositivism or postempiricism is a metatheoretical stance that critiques and amends positivism and has impacted theories and practices across philosophy, social sciences, and various models of scientific inquiry. While positivists emphas ...
/
positivist debate within
International Relations
International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such as ...
. Kuhn is credited as a foundational force behind the post-
Mertonian sociology of scientific knowledge
The sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK) is the study of science as a social activity, especially dealing with "the social conditions and effects of science, and with the social structures and processes of scientific activity." The sociolog ...
. Kuhn's work has also been used in the Arts and Humanities, such as by Matthew Edward Harris to distinguish between scientific and historical communities (such as political or religious groups): 'political-religious beliefs and opinions are not epistemologically the same as those pertaining to scientific theories'. This is because would-be scientists' worldviews are changed through rigorous training, through the engagement between what Kuhn calls 'exemplars' and the Global Paradigm. Kuhn's notions of paradigms and paradigm shifts have been influential in understanding the history of economic thought, for example the
Keynesian revolution, and in debates in political science.
A defense Kuhn gives against the objection that his account of science from ''The Structure of Scientific Revolutions'' results in relativism can be found in an essay by Kuhn called "Objectivity, Value Judgment, and Theory Choice."
In this essay, he reiterates five criteria from the penultimate chapter of ''SSR'' that determine (or help determine, more properly) theory choice:
# ''Accurate'' – empirically adequate with experimentation and observation
# ''Consistent'' – internally consistent, but also externally consistent with other theories
# ''Broad Scope'' – a theory's consequences should extend beyond that which it was initially designed to explain
# ''Simple'' – the simplest explanation, principally similar to
Occam's razor
Occam's razor, Ockham's razor, or Ocham's razor ( la, novacula Occami), also known as the principle of parsimony or the law of parsimony ( la, lex parsimoniae), is the problem-solving principle that "entities should not be multiplied beyond neces ...
# ''Fruitful'' – a theory should disclose new phenomena or new relationships among phenomena
He then goes on to show how, although these criteria admittedly determine theory choice, they are imprecise in practice and relative to individual scientists. According to Kuhn, "When scientists must choose between competing theories, two men fully committed to the same list of criteria for choice may nevertheless reach different conclusions."
For this reason, the criteria still are not "objective" in the usual sense of the word because individual scientists reach different conclusions with the same criteria due to valuing one criterion over another or even adding additional criteria for selfish or other subjective reasons. Kuhn then goes on to say, "I am suggesting, of course, that the criteria of choice with which I began function not as rules, which determine choice, but as values, which influence it."
Because Kuhn utilizes the history of science in his account of science, his criteria or values for theory choice are often understood as descriptive normative rules (or more properly, values) of theory choice for the scientific community rather than prescriptive normative rules in the usual sense of the word "criteria", although there are many varied interpretations of Kuhn's account of science.
Post-''Structure'' philosophy
Years after the publication of ''The Structure of Scientific Revolutions'', Kuhn dropped the concept of a paradigm and began to focus on the semantic aspects of scientific theories. In particular, Kuhn focuses on the taxonomic structure of scientific kind terms. As a consequence, a scientific revolution is not defined as a 'change of paradigm' anymore, but rather as a change in the taxonomic structure of the theoretical language of science. Some scholars describe this change as resulting from a 'linguistic turn'. In their book, Andersen, Barker and Chen use some recent theories in cognitive psychology to vindicate Kuhn's mature philosophy.
Apart from dropping the concept of a paradigm, Kuhn also began to look at the process of scientific specialisation. In a scientific revolution, a new paradigm (or a new taxonomy) replaces the old one; by contrast, specialisation leads to a proliferation of new specialties and disciplines. This attention to the proliferation of specialties would make Kuhn's model less 'revolutionary' and more 'evolutionary'. Some philosophers claim that Kuhn attempted to describe different kinds of scientific change: revolutions and specialty-creation. Others claim that the process of specialisation is in itself a special case of scientific revolutions. It is also possible to argue that, in Kuhn's model, science evolves ''through'' revolutions.
Polanyi–Kuhn debate
Although they used different terminologies, both Kuhn and
Michael Polanyi
Michael Polanyi (; hu, Polányi Mihály; 11 March 1891 – 22 February 1976) was a Hungarian-British polymath, who made important theoretical contributions to physical chemistry, economics, and philosophy. He argued that positivism supplies ...
believed that scientists' subjective experiences made science a relativized discipline. Polanyi lectured on this topic for decades before Kuhn published ''The Structure of Scientific Revolutions''.
Supporters of Polanyi charged Kuhn with plagiarism, as it was known that Kuhn attended several of Polanyi's lectures, and that the two men had debated endlessly over
epistemology
Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics.
Episte ...
before either had achieved fame. After the charge of plagiarism, Kuhn acknowledged Polanyi in the ''Second'' edition of ''The Structure of Scientific Revolutions''.
Despite this intellectual alliance, Polanyi's work was constantly interpreted by others within the framework of Kuhn's paradigm shifts, much to Polanyi's (and Kuhn's) dismay.
Honors
Kuhn was named a
Guggenheim Fellow
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
in 1954, elected to the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
in 1963, elected to the
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
in 1974, elected to the United States
National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
in 1979, and, in 1982 was awarded the
George Sarton Medal
The George Sarton Medal is the most prestigious award given by the History of Science Society. It has been awarded annually since 1955. It is awarded to an historian of science from the international community who became distinguished for "a lifeti ...
by the
History of Science Society
The History of Science Society (HSS) is the primary professional society for the academic study of the history of science. It was founded in 1924 by George Sarton, David Eugene Smith, and Lawrence Joseph Henderson, primarily to support the publi ...
. He also received numerous honorary doctorates.
In honor of his legacy, the Thomas Kuhn Paradigm Shift Award is awarded by the
American Chemical Society
The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all d ...
to speakers who present original views that are at odds with mainstream scientific understanding. The winner is selected based on the novelty of the viewpoint and its potential impact if it were to be widely accepted.
Personal life
Thomas Kuhn was married twice, first to Kathryn Muhs with whom he had three children, then to Jehane Barton Burns (Jehane B. Kuhn).
In 1994, Kuhn was diagnosed with lung cancer. He died in 1996.
Bibliography
* Kuhn, T. S. ''
The Copernican Revolution: Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western Thought''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1957.
* Kuhn, T. S. The Function of Measurement in Modern Physical Science. ''Isis'', 52 (1961): 161–193.
* Kuhn, T. S. ''
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
''The Structure of Scientific Revolutions'' (1962; second edition 1970; third edition 1996; fourth edition 2012) is a book about the history of science by philosopher Thomas S. Kuhn. Its publication was a landmark event in the history, philosophy ...
''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962.
* Kuhn, T. S
"The Function of Dogma in Scientific Research".pp. 347–369 in A. C. Crombie (ed.). ''Scientific Change'' (Symposium on the History of Science, University of Oxford, July 9–15, 1961). New York and London: Basic Books and Heineman, 1963.
* Kuhn, T. S. ''The Essential Tension: Selected Studies in Scientific Tradition and Change''. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1977.
* Kuhn, T. S. ''
Black-Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity, 1894-1912
A black body or blackbody is an idealized physical body that absorbs all incident electromagnetic radiation, regardless of frequency or angle of incidence. The name "black body" is given because it absorbs all colors of light. A black body ...
''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987.
* Kuhn, T. S. ''The Road Since Structure: Philosophical Essays, 1970–1993''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.
References
Further reading
*
Hanne Andersen
Hanne Andersen (born 1964) is a Danish philosopher of science. She is a professor of science education at the University of Copenhagen, head of the Department of Science Education, and a member of the research group on history and philosophy o ...
, Peter Barker, and Xiang Chen. ''The Cognitive Structure of Scientific Revolutions'', Cambridge University Press, 2006.
*
Alexander Bird
Alexander James Bird (born 1964) is a British philosopher and Bertrand Russell Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge.
Career
In 2020, Bird was elected to the Bertrand Russell Professorship of Philosophy, succeeding Huw Pric ...
. ''Thomas Kuhn''. Princeton and London: Princeton University Press and Acumen Press, 2000.
*
Steve Fuller. ''Thomas Kuhn: A Philosophical History for Our Times''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.
* Matthew Edward Harris. ''The Notion of Papal Monarchy in the Thirteenth Century: The Idea of Paradigm in Church History.' Lampeter and
Lewiston, New York
Lewiston is a town in Niagara County, New York, United States. The population was 15,944 at the 2020 census. The town and its contained village are named after Morgan Lewis, a governor of New York.
The Town of Lewiston is on the western bord ...
:
Edwin Mellen Press
The Edwin Mellen Press or Mellen Press is an international Independent business, independent company and Academic publisher, academic publishing house with editorial offices in Lewiston (town), New York, Lewiston, New York, and Lampeter, Lampete ...
, 2010. .
*
Paul Hoyningen-Huene Paul Hoyningen-Huene (born July 31, 1946 in Pfronten, West Germany) is a German philosopher who specializes in general philosophy of science and research ethics. He is best known for his Neo-Kantian interpretation of Thomas S. Kuhn's ideas. Hoyninge ...
''Reconstructing Scientific Revolutions: Thomas S. Kuhn's Philosophy of Science''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993.
* Jouni-Matti Kuukkanen, ''Meaning Changes: A Study of Thomas Kuhn's Philosophy''. AV Akademikerverlag, 2012.
*
Errol Morris
Errol Mark Morris (born February 5, 1948) is an American film director known for documentaries that interrogate the epistemology of its subjects. In 2003, his documentary film '' The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamar ...
. ''
The Ashtray (Or the Man Who Denied Reality)
''The Ashtray (Or the Man Who Denied Reality)'' is a book by Errol Morris in which he criticizes the philosophy of Thomas Kuhn.
Title
In 1972, Morris met with Kuhn at Princeton University's Institute for Advanced Study, where Morris was a grad ...
''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2018.
*
Sal Restivo
Sal Restivo (born 1940) is a sociologist/anthropologist.
Work
Restivo is a leading contributor to science studies and in particular to the sociology of mathematics. His current work focuses on the sociology of mind and brain, and the sociology o ...
, The Myth of the Kuhnian Revolution. ''Sociological Theory'', Vol. 1, (1983), 293–305.
External links
Notes for Thomas Kuhn's "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions"*
* James A. Marcum,
Thomas S. Kuhn (1922–1996), ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy''
(obituary, ''
The Tech'' p. 9 vol 116 no 28, June 26, 1996)
Review in the New York Review of BooksColor PortraitHistory of Twentieth-Century Philosophy of Science BOOK VI: Kuhn on Revolution and Feyerabend on Anarchy – with free downloads for public use.
Thomas S. Kuhn, post-modernism and materialist dialectics*
Errol Morris
Errol Mark Morris (born February 5, 1948) is an American film director known for documentaries that interrogate the epistemology of its subjects. In 2003, his documentary film '' The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamar ...
The Ashtray: The Ultimatum(Part 1
f 5 parts
F, or f, is the sixth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet#Let ...
, a critical view and memoir of Kuhn
* Daniel Laskowski Tozzini
"Objetividade e racionalidade na filosofia da ciência de Thomas Kuhn"* Thomas S. Kuhn Papers, MC 240. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Institute Archives and Special Collections, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
* Maurício Cavalcante Rio
"Thomas S. Kuhn e a Construção Social do Conhecimento CientíficoThomas Kuhn on Information Philosopher*
N. M. Swerdlow, "Thomas S. Kuhn", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (2013)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuhn, Thomas Samuel
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