The Kuhnian Image of Science: Time for a Decisive Transformation? (Collective Studies in Knowledge and Society)

Moti Mizrahi

ISBN 10: 1786603403 / ISBN 13: 9781786603401

Published by Policy Network, London, 2017

About this Item

Seller Inventory # V9781786603401

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Kuhnian Image of Science: Time for a Decisive Transformation? (Collective Studies in Knowledge and Society)
• Publisher: Policy Network, London
• Publication Date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1786603403
• ISBN 13: 9781786603401
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

More than 50 years after the publication of Thomas Kuhn’s seminal book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, this volume assesses the adequacy of the Kuhnian model in explaining certain aspects of science, particularly the social and epistemic aspects of science. One argument put forward is that there are no good reasons to accept Kuhn’s incommensurability thesis, according to which scientific revolutions involve the replacement of theories with conceptually incompatible ones. Perhaps, therefore, it is time for another “decisive transformation in the image of science by which we are now possessed.” Only this time, the image of science that needs to be transformed is the Kuhnian one. Does the Kuhnian image of science provide an adequate model of scientific practice? If we abandon the Kuhnian picture of revolutionary change and incommensurability, what consequences would follow from that vis-à-vis our understanding of scientific knowledge as a social endeavour?

The essays in this collection continue this debate, offering a critical examination of the arguments for and against the Kuhnian image of science as well as their implications for our understanding of science as a social and epistemic enterprise.

About the Author

Moti Mizrahi is professor of philosophy at the Florida Institute of Technology, USA.