ENGLISH

Philosophy and history of science: Beyond the Kuhnian paradigm

By Hans Radder

Book information

Publisher
Elsevier
Year
1997
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
2 MB (1849503 bytes)
Series
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A. Volume 28, Issue 4
Volume
volume 1
Pages
23\23
Time added
2009-10-15 16:43:54
paper

Description

At issue in this paper is the question of the appropriate relationship between the philosophy and history of science. The discussion starts with a brief sketch of Kuhn's approach, followed by an analysis of the so-called ‘testing-theories-of-scientific-change programme’. This programme is an attempt at a more rigorous approach to the historical philosophy of science. Since my conclusion is that, by and large, this attempt has failed, I proceed to examine some more promising approaches. First, I deal with Hacking's recent views on the issues in question, particularly his notion of a ‘style of reasoning’. Next, Nickles's reconstructionist interpretation of the development of science and his views on Whig history are addressed. Finally, I propose an account of philosophy as a theoretical, an interpretative and explanatory, enterprise. Thus, three alternatives to the Kuhnian paradigm are discussed, alternatives that share a recognition of the relative autonomy of philosophy from history. Hence, they assume a less tight relationship between philosophy and history of science than is the case within the Kuhnian paradigm.

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