Kuhn's Intellectual Path
Charting The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

Examines the influences on and impact of Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.

K. Brad Wray (Author)

9781316512173, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 30 September 2021

246 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 1.9 cm, 0.51 kg

'Who should read this book? Anyone who is interested in Kuhn's ideas, or historically oriented philosophy of science in the second half of the twentieth century, will find many things of value here. But a much larger audience would benefit from reading it. If you are an analytic philosopher, and especially if you are a philosopher of science, what you believe about Kuhn is probably wrong, and this book will begin to set you right. If what you believe about Kuhn is wrong, what you believe about science is wrong too. Science is our paradigm for rational discourse and the creation of knowledge, so if you don't understand what Kuhn said about science, then you have no business theorizing about rationality or knowledge. There is a great deal of work to do, and Wray's book is an excellent place to start.' Peter Barker, Philosophy of Science

Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions offers an insightful and engaging theory of science that speaks to scholars across many disciplines. Though initially widely misunderstood, it had a profound impact on the way intellectuals and educated laypeople thought about science. K. Brad Wray traces the influences on Kuhn as he wrote Structure, including his 'Aristotle epiphany', his interactions, and his studies of the history of chemistry. Wray then considers the impact of Structure on the social sciences, on the history of science, and on the philosophy of science, where the problem of theory change has set the terms of contemporary realism/anti-realism debates. He examines Kuhn's frustrations with the Strong Programme sociologists' appropriations of his views, and debunks several popular claims about what influenced Kuhn as he wrote Structure. His book is a rich and comprehensive assessment of one of the most influential works in the modern sciences.

Introduction
Part I. The Groundwork for Structure: Harvard 1947 to 1955: 1. What did Aristotle Teach Kuhn?
2. The Influence of James B. Conant
3. Kuhn and the History of Chemistry
4. Kuhn and the Logical Positivists
Part II. The Unexpected Uptake: Kuhn and the Social Sciences: 5. Kuhn's Influence on the Social Sciences
6. The Elephant in the Room: The Sociology of Scientific Knowledge
Part III. Kuhn and the History of Science
7. Copenhagen, 1962-1963: A Return to the History of Science
8. Structure, Historicism and the History of Science
Part IV. Kuhn's Philosophical Legacy: 9. Squeals of Outrage from Philosophers
10. Kuhn and the Contemporary Realism/Anti-realism Debates
11. Kuhn's Career, Post-Structure.

Subject Areas: Philosophy: logic [HPL], Philosophy: metaphysics & ontology [HPJ], Philosophy [HP], Humanities [H]