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115 results

Page 1 of 6

  • 10 - The Orwellian Dimension of Scientific Progress

  • from Part III - Incommensurability, Progress, and Revolutions
  • Edited by K. Brad Wray, Aarhus Universitet, Denmark
  • Book:
    Kuhn's <i>The Structure of Scientific Revolutions</i> at 60
    Published online:
    05 January 2024
    Print publication:
    18 January 2024, pp 182-196

  • Summary

    Kuhn claims after a revolutionary change of theory, scientists need to write new textbooks to incorporate the new theoretical perspective. The revisions do not merely involve the addition of the new discoveries. The task involves some rewriting of the history of the discipline. Kuhn suggests there are parallels to Orwell’s 1984. The “new” history of a scientific field is written to emphasize the continuity through the change. This chapter examines the role Kuhn’s comparison to 1984 plays in his argument, and the significance of the rewriting of a discipline’s history after a change of theory. The process tells us something about both how scientists are trained to work effectively and the nature of the changes that occur during a scientific revolution.

  • Introduction

  • Edited by K. Brad Wray, Aarhus Universitet, Denmark
  • Book:
    Kuhn's <i>The Structure of Scientific Revolutions</i> at 60
    Published online:
    05 January 2024
    Print publication:
    18 January 2024, pp 1-18

  • Summary

    The influence of Kuhn’s Structure has been remarkably wide-ranging. The author was honored by the History of Science Society, the Philosophy of Science Association, and the Society for the Social Studies of Science, three very different academic societies. The chapter reviews the impact of Structure and the changing perceptions of its significance, one discipline at a time. It focuses on book reviews of Structure, some written soon after the book was first published, and others written as much as fifty years after its publication, in response to the publication of the fourth edition. It also discusses articles that reflect on the impact of the book and eulogies or appreciations of Kuhn marking his death in 1996.

Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions at 60
  • Edited by K. Brad Wray
  • Published online:
    05 January 2024
    Print publication:
    18 January 2024
  • Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions has sold more than one million copies since its publication in 1962, is one of the most cited academic books of all time, and continues to be read and studied today. This volume of new essays evaluates the significance of Kuhn's classic book in its changing historical context, including its initial reception and its lasting effects. The essays explore the range of ideas which Kuhn made popular with his influential philosophy of science, including paradigms, normal science, paradigm changes, scientific revolutions, and incommensurability; and they also look at less-studied themes in his work, including scientific measurement, science education, and science textbooks. Drawing on the latest scholarship as well as unpublished material in the Thomas Kuhn Archives at MIT, this volume offers a comprehensive way into Kuhn's philosophy and demonstrates the continuing relevance of his ideas for our understanding of science.

  • Thomas Kuhn, Hyperbole, and the Ashtray: Evidence of Morris’ Faulty Memory

  • K. Brad Wray
  • Journal:
    Philosophy of Science / Volume 90 / Issue 1 / January 2023
    Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    22 April 2022, pp. 196-199
    Print publication:
    January 2023

  • Errol Morris has claimed that Kuhn threw an ashtray at him during a dispute about some matter in the history of science. Morris also claims that Kuhn threw him out of the graduate program at Princeton for disagreeing with him. I argue that Morris’s attack on Kuhn contains some degree of hyperbole. Further, I present evidence that shows that Morris is mistaken about key events during this period. In fact, Kuhn was supportive of Morris in his pursuit of a career in the history of science.

Kuhn's Intellectual Path
  • Charting The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
  • K. Brad Wray
  • Published online:
    02 February 2022
    Print publication:
    30 September 2021
  • Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions offers an insightful and engaging theory of science that speaks to scholars across many disciplines. Though initially widely misunderstood, it had a profound impact on the way intellectuals and educated laypeople thought about science. K. Brad Wray traces the influences on Kuhn as he wrote Structure, including his 'Aristotle epiphany', his interactions, and his studies of the history of chemistry. Wray then considers the impact of Structure on the social sciences, on the history of science, and on the philosophy of science, where the problem of theory change has set the terms of contemporary realism/anti-realism debates. He examines Kuhn's frustrations with the Strong Programme sociologists' appropriations of his views, and debunks several popular claims about what influenced Kuhn as he wrote Structure. His book is a rich and comprehensive assessment of one of the most influential works in the modern sciences.

Page 1 of 6