The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
What books should everyone read before they die?Add Book
Not Available
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Thomas S. Kuhn
Science & Nature
James Mustich
Jul 28, 2018
Dense and deeply erudite, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is not an easy read, yet the provocative themes it articulates repay a reader’s pondering. Kuhn argues that science is not a gradually and logically advancing discipline, but rather a “series of peaceful interludes punctuated by intellectually violent revolutions”—that scientists are generally not innovators who question everything, but conservative figures who most often work within established methodologies and patterns of thought, even going so far as to resist developments that would seem to shed doubt on current wisdom. Only when the prevailing view of nature undergoes a “paradigm shift”—because of some “new sort of fact” that existing frameworks cannot assimilate—do scientific revolutions occur; they are fomented not by added knowledge so much as by anomaly. (The cross-discipline popularity of the phrase “paradigm shift” in public discourse today is one of the legacies of Kuhn’s book.) By asserting that science is not progress toward a fixed goal but an evolutionary unfolding of understanding, Kuhn incited controversy; his book about the nature of revolutionary thinking was, in itself, revolutionary.
0
Add Reply
Len Blasiol
May 18, 2019
"Paradigm shift"
0
Add Reply
Agree (13)
Life's too short (3)
Want to read
Post Comment
"1,000 Books To Read Before You Die" is a registered trademark of Workman Publishing, Inc. Based on the book: 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die by James Mustich, (Workman Publishing Co., Inc.: © 2018 James Mustich)
All other website content © 2018-2024 The Company of Books LLC.