The Kuhnian Image of Science: Time for a Decisive Transformation?

Description

More than 50 years after the publication of Thomas Kuhn’s seminal book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, this volume assesses the adequacy of the Kuhnian model in explaining certain aspects of science, particularly the social and epistemic aspects of science. One argument put forward is that there are no good reasons to accept Kuhn’s incommensurability thesis, according to which scientific revolutions involve the replacement of theories with conceptually incompatible ones. Perhaps, therefore, it is time for another “decisive transformation in the image of science by which we are now possessed.” Only this time, the image of science that needs to be transformed is the Kuhnian one. Does the Kuhnian image of science provide an adequate model of scientific practice? If we abandon the Kuhnian picture of revolutionary change and incommensurability, what consequences would follow from that vis-à-vis our understanding of scientific knowledge as a social endeavour? The essays in this collection continue this debate, offering a critical examination of the arguments for and against the Kuhnian image of science as well as their implications for our understanding of science as a social and epistemic enterprise. The Kuhnian Image of Science......Page 1 Contents......Page 6 Introduction......Page 8 Part I: Questioning the Kuhnian Image of Science......Page 30 1 Kuhn’s Incommensurability Thesis: What’s the Argument?......Page 32 2 Modeling Scientific Development: Lessons from Thomas Kuhn......Page 52 3 Can Kuhn’s Taxonomic Incommensurability Be an Image of Science?......Page 68 4 The Demise of the Incommensurability Thesis......Page 82 Part II: Defending the Kuhnian Image of Science......Page 100 5 The Kuhnian Straw Man......Page 102 6 Kuhn, Pedagogy, and Practice: A Local Reading of Structure......Page 120 Part III: Revising the Kuhnian Image of Science......Page 138 7 Redefining Revolutions......Page 140 8 Revolution or Evolution in Science? A Role for the Incommensurability Thesis?......Page 162 Part IV: Abandoning the Kuhnian Image of Science......Page 182 9 The Biological Metaphors of Scientific Change......Page 184 10 Beyond Kuhn: Methodological Contextualism and Partial Paradigms......Page 198 Index......Page 216 About the Editor......Page 220 About the Contributors......Page 222