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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.… (more)
thcson: Toulmin gives a good critique of Kuhn and discusses the history of scientific concepts from an evolutionary point of view. He utilizes the history of science in much the same way.
Thruston: The nature of the scientific process set out in Kuhn's masterly account, is one of the central themes in Miller's entertaining history of medicine and the way humans perceive themselves.
I read this book for a college class many years ago. One which I took for fun, on the history of astronomy, to fill out the electives in my schedule. Do students even get to do that any more? Some reporting makes it seem like the College Experience has become very business-like.
In any case, it was a serendipitous thing all around; not only did I enjoy the class, this book left a strong imprint on me too. It's one of the few nonfiction books from my college years that I've kept on my dusty shelves. (Sorry, Calculus, you may be useful but you're just not much fun.) ( )
A key text in the history of philosophy of science, it has impacted greatly our thinking and policy. In some ways, Kuhn offers a liberating view in which the benefits of transformative technological change are sudden, of high impact and diffuse. In other ways, there is a sense of inevitability of the process and a sense that the force of technological change was something beyond the actors involved.
I recommend reading this but not stopping here and after looking at a broader history of science text. ( )
Muy interesante, un incentivo a repensar las cosas, no siempre las cosas son como se cree solo por que así a sido desde antes, a veces es necesario repensarlas y puede que descubramos o teoricemos algo “nuevo”, bueno, y si no, ya solo el hecho de pensar y analizarlo es entretenido e interesante… ( )
The lasting value of Kuhn’s thesis in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is that it reminds us that any science, however apparently purified of the taint of philosophical speculation, is nevertheless embedded in a philosophical framework — and that the great success of physics and biology is due not to their actual independence from philosophy but rather to physicists’ and biologists’ dismissal of it. Those who are inclined to take this dismissal as meaning that philosophy is dead altogether, or has been replaced by science, will do well to recognize the force by which Kuhn’s thesis opposes this stance: History has repeatedly demonstrated that periods of progress in normal science — when philosophy seems to be moot — may be long and steady, but they lead to a time when non-scientific, philosophical questions again become paramount. ...
Kuhn deserves the respect of the rigorous criticism that has come his way. It is fitting that his provocative thesis has faced blistering scrutiny — and remarkable that it has survived to instruct and vex us five decades later.
History, if viewed as a repository for more than anecdote or chronology, could produce a decisive transformation in the image of science by which we are now possessed.
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Since this view is also compatible with close observation of scientific life, there are strong arguments for employing it in attempts to solve the host of problems that still remain.
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.
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Questo libro del 1962, l'opera più conosciuta del filosofo americano e uno dei testi teorici più influenti della seconda metà del ventesimo secolo, è divenuto un punto di riferimento stabile per il mondo degli scienziati e dei filosofi della scienza, di cui ha contribuito a rinnovare profondamente vocabolario e orizzonti di riferimento. Nella "Struttura delle rivoluzioni scientifiche", Kuhn sostiene la tesi che la scienza, invece di progredire gradualmente verso la verità, è soggetta a rivoluzioni periodiche, le spiegazioni sono tali all'interno di una struttura, di una vasta rete di interconnessioni, che diventa sempre più sottile, ma che spesso si imbatte in fenomeni che non riesce a spiegare senza trasformare radicalmente se stessa. Esiste una interazione tra struttura concettuale della scienza e realtà, tra realtà sociale e scienza, che si manifesta nel complesso di forze che decidono cosa è problema e cosa è "soluzione" di un problema. Cosa non nuova, ma che Kuhn è stato il primo ad affrontare analiticamente, tenendo fede al detto baconiano con cui si apre questo libro non baconiano: "La verità emerge piuttosto dall'errore che dalla confusione". (piopas)
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In any case, it was a serendipitous thing all around; not only did I enjoy the class, this book left a strong imprint on me too. It's one of the few nonfiction books from my college years that I've kept on my dusty shelves. (Sorry, Calculus, you may be useful but you're just not much fun.) (