Kuhn’s Structure of Scientific Revolutions - 50 Years On

In 1962, the publication of Thomas Kuhn’s Structure ‘revolutionized’ the way one conducts philosophical and historical studies of science. Through the introduction of both memorable and controversial notions, such as paradigms, scientific revolutions, and incommensurability, Kuhn argued against the traditionally accepted notion of scientific change as a progression towards the truth about nature, and instead substituted the idea that science is a puzzle solving activity, operating under paradigms, which become discarded after it fails to respond accordingly to anomalous challenges and a rival paradigm. Kuhn’s Structure has sold over 1.4 million copies and the Times Literary Supplement named it one of the “Hundred Most Influential Books since the Second World War.” Now, fifty years after this groundbreaking work was published, this volume offers a timely reappraisal of the legacy of Kuhn’s book and an investigation into what Structure offers philosophical, historical, and sociological studies of science in the future.

William J. Devlin is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Bridgewater State University and Summer Lecturer at University of Wyoming. His areas of research include philosophy of science, 19^th century philosophy, and existentialism. He has written on issues related to the philosophies of time travel, causality, truth, Thomas Kuhn, and Friedrich Nietzsche.

Alisa Bokulich is Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University, where she also organizes the Boston Colloquium for Philosophy of Science.  She is a series editor for Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science and an Associate Member of Harvard University’s History of Science Department.  In addition to several edited books she is author of Reexamining the Quantum-Classical Relation: Beyond Reductionism and Pluralism with Cambridge University Press.