Kuhn vs.Popper: The Struggle for the Soul of Science

Thomas Kuhn and Karl Popper, a young historian and an old philosopher, met just once to discuss the nature of science. Yet, for the last half-century this encounter has dominated public discussions on the topic. Nearly every course on the scientific method today makes reference to 'Kuhn vs. Popper' as a watershed, in which Kuhn's supposedly pluralistic vision of science triumphed over Popper's more monolithic one.
The future of science itself depends on understanding the philosophical, political and even religious basis of what separated Kuhn and Popper. Drawing on his own original examination of the Kuhn archives at MIT, Fuller provides a reliable guide to these matters. The result is a account of a landmark confrontation in which 'the wrong guy' won.

Steve Fuller is Professor of Sociology at the University of Warwick.