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Thomas Kuhn (July 18, 1922- June 17, 1996)

By emhoernlein

  • Introduction to Thomas Kuhn

    Introduction to Thomas Kuhn
    Thomas Samuel Kuhn (1922–1996) is one of the most influential philosophers of science of the twentieth century. Kuhn was born in Cincinnati, Ohio to his parents Minette Stroock Kuhn and Samuel L. He obtained his BSc degree in physics from Harvard College in 1943, where he also obtained MSc and PhD degrees in physics in 1946 and 1949, respectively, under the supervision of John Van Vleck.

  • The Structure of Scientific Revolutions continued

    The Structure of Scientific Revolutions continued
    In The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Kuhn paints a picture of the development of science quite unlike any before. Before Kuhn, there was little by way of a carefully considered, theoretically explained account of scientific change. Instead, there was a conception of how science ought to develop that was a by-product of the prevailing philosophy of science, as well as a popular, heroic view of scientific progress.

  • The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

    The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
    His 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is one of the most cited academic books of all time. Kuhn’s contribution to the philosophy of science marked not only a break with several key positivist doctrines, but also inaugurated a new style of philosophy of science that brought it closer to the history of science.

  • Paradigm

    Paradigm
    A particularly important part of Kuhn’s thesis in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions focuses upon one specific component of the disciplinary matrix. This is the consensus on exemplary instances of scientific research. These exemplars of good science are what Kuhn refers to when he uses the term ‘paradigm’ in a narrower sense.

  • Paradigms continued

    Paradigms continued
    In this way, Kuhn brought about a conceptual revolution by triggering a shift in our understanding of science.

  • Resources

    1. 1957, The Copernican Revolution: Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western Thought, Cambridge Mass: Harvard University Press.
    2. 1962/1970, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Chicago: University of Chicago Press (1970, 2nd edition, with postscript).
    3. 1977, “The Relations between the History and the Philosophy of Science”, in his The Essential Tension, Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 3–20.