The Structure of Scientific Revolutions: 50th Anniversary Edition
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...
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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. And 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 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 introductory essay by Ian Hacking that 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 essay 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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Format: paperback
ISBN:
9780226458120 (0226458121)
ASIN: 226458121
Publish date: April 30th 2012
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Pages no: 264
Edition language: English
Kuhn’s thesis is that scientific progress does not proceed cumulatively, as most people have believed. Instead, he says that it oscillates between stable periods of normal science, during which scientists elaborate and extend a single dominant paradigm, and revolutionary breaks, when an existing par...
This kind of book is why I love audible so much. I never would have read it let alone understand it if it weren't for being on audible. The book is written at such a level that anyone can follow what he's trying to say. I never would have realized that if I were reading the book on my own. (God bles...
The premise of the book is that science doesn't progress by the cumulative addition of knowledge, but instead advances by major shifts in paradigms that replace, rather than increment, large parts of previous paradigms. To begin with, scientific research in a specific subject is carried out within t...
Seminal work in the field of science studies, and one of my earliest readings in it as well.
e-version: http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/students/envs_5110/structure_of_scientific_revolutions.pdfGreat review: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/aug/19/thomas-kuhn-structure-scientific-revolutions