The Structure of Scientific Revolutions: 50th Anniversary Edition Author: Thomas S. Kuhn | Language: English | ISBN:
B007USH7J2 | Format: EPUB
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions: 50th Anniversary Edition Description
A good book may have the power to change the way we see the world, but a great book actually becomes part of our daily consciousness, pervading our thinking to the point that we take it for granted, and we forget how provocative and challenging its ideas once were—and still are. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is that kind of book. When it was first published in 1962, it was a landmark event in the history and philosophy of science. Fifty years later, it still has many lessons to teach.
With The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Kuhn challenged long-standing linear notions of scientific progress, arguing that transformative ideas don’t arise from the day-to-day, gradual process of experimentation and data accumulation but that the revolutions in science, those breakthrough moments that disrupt accepted thinking and offer unanticipated ideas, occur outside of “normal science,” as he called it. Though Kuhn was writing when physics ruled the sciences, his ideas on how scientific revolutions bring order to the anomalies that amass over time in research experiments are still instructive in our biotech age.
This new edition of Kuhn’s essential work in the history of science includes an insightful introduction by Ian Hacking, which clarifies terms popularized by Kuhn, including paradigm and incommensurability, and applies Kuhn’s ideas to the science of today. Usefully keyed to the separate sections of the book, Hacking’s introduction provides important background information as well as a contemporary context. Newly designed, with an expanded index, this edition will be eagerly welcomed by the next generation of readers seeking to understand the history of our perspectives on science.
- File Size: 908 KB
- Print Length: 228 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0226458075
- Publisher: University of Chicago Press; Fourth Edition edition (April 18, 2012)
- Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
- Language: English
- ASIN: B007USH7J2
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
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- Lending: Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,558 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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in Books > Science & Math > History & Philosophy
- #5
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Education & Reference > Encyclopedias - #26
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Science > History & Philosophy - #96
in Books > Science & Math > History & Philosophy
As a practicing scientist and someone who has always been interested in history and the development of scientific ideas "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" has for long time been the book that loomed large on my intellectual horizon. Thomas Kuhn's book has for a long time had a reputation as the definitive and seminal work on understanding how new scientific ideas come about and how and why they gain support. Part of my reluctance to start reading this book stemmed from my belief that it would be an overly philosophical work, with a lot of opaque technical jargon, and with very little relevance to actual scientific practice. However, to my great surprise and delight, nothing could be farther from the truth. This book is written in a very matter-of-fact style, and it is easy to understand what Kuhn is getting at. His own background in science and history of science probably made him very sensitive to the working and thinking of practicing scientists.
The insights that Kuhn has arrived at are still relevant almost half a century after this book has been published. The idea of "paradigm shifts" has even entered the mainstream consciousness, to the point that it can be caricatured in various cartoons and silly t-shirts. However, after reading this book it is not quite clear to me whether Khun wanted this to be a description of the way that science works, or more of a normative prescription for how to arrive at truly fundamental changes in some scientific discipline. This is particularly relevant for disciplines or directions of research that seem to have gotten stuck in some dead end, as has been the case with particle physics for several decades.
Since "Structure" is considered by many to be the most important or influential work of philosophy of science, there is little reason to write a review about Kuhn's text, itself. The vaunted monograph is, after all, touted as being the most cited text of any intellectual work in the latter part of the twentieth century; not to mention my personal opinion, that it is among the most important works ever written. Instead, I will review the edition and the introduction by Ian Hacking. The only thing that comes to mind to say about the edition is that the text in some printings of the third edition has lettering that is wide and appears a little smudged. The text in the fourth edition appears much cleaner. As far as Ian Hacking's introduction, which is as much a tribute to the work as it is an introduction, I have found, is well worth updating from an early edition, if not replacing the older edition, then serving as a lovely complement. The reason I am of such an opinion, despite having very different views from Hacking's --then again, who actual agrees with anyone else's opinion of what Kuhn meant?--, is that Hacking places Kuhn's work into historical perspective, noting, to some extent, where history and philosophy of science was before Kuhn and, then, where history and philosophy of science was afterward. The introduction is a wonderfully compelling argument advancing the idea that everyone should be interested in reading: scientist, philosopher, historian, sociologist, anthropologist, and so on.
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