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Thomas Samuel Kuhn was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. His father was an engineer and his mother was a professional editor. His father attended Harvard and inspired him to do the same and pursue physics with an interest in philosophy (Nickels, 2003, 8). -
Kuhn Majored in physics at Harvard but had decided to help with the war effort before finishing his degree. After he earned his doctorate in physics he wanted to shift to philosophy but he had to accept a teaching position in the history of science as a prelude to the philosophy of science. This position attributed greatly to his first book and understanding Aristotle properly. (Bird, 2004). -
The Copernican revolution was the first book Kuhn had written and released. This book made an unorthodox approach to how the history of philosophy and science is understood in terms of "cognitive shifts" (Nickels, 2003, 10). This was instrumental in guiding his mindset towards what is considered his greatest life work. -
Kuhn proposes his theories on the structure of scientific revolutions utilizing paradigms. The initial released garnered a lot of attention within the scientific community that is still influential to this day. However, the controversy and debate that occurred from it would follow him for the remainder of his life. (Bird, 2004). -
Kuhn attempted to write a follow-up to all of the critiques on his theory. He was unable to do this within his life due to his cancer. He instead released essays that discuss some of his philosophical ideas that expand and simultaneously change some of his ideas within his theory on the structure of scientific revolutions (Nickels, 2003, 11). -
Despite the controversy that occurred from his release of structure, it created a new understanding of the unorthodox methods that can be applied in the philosophy of science, forever changing the field of study. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGsCM5ymIuQ&ab_channel=GiveMeFive