What Is This Thing Called Science? / Alan Chalmers
Chapter 8: Theories as structures: Kuhn’s paradigms
- In his "Structure of Scientific Revolutions" Kuhn describes the progress of science
o
Pre-science à normal science à crisis à revolution à new normal science à new crisis
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Existence of a paradigm
capable of supporting a normal science tradition is the characteristic that
distinguishes science from non-science
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Mature science is governed
by a single paradigm
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Normal science as
puzzle-solving activity governed y the rules of a paradigm
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Lack of agreement over
fundamental distinguishes mature science from disorganized immature pre-science
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Mere existence of
unresolved puzzles does not constitute a crisis
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When anomalies come to be
seen as posing serious problems for a paradigm à
crisis which is deepened with the appearance of an incompatible rival paradigm.
Rival paradigms are incommensurable
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Scientific revolution:
abandonment of one paradigm and the adoption by a new one by the relevant
scientific community as a whole
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Importance attached to the
role played by the sociological characteristics of scientific communities
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Function of revolutions: a
means of breaking out of one paradigm into a better one
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Progress through revolutions:
alternative to cumulative progress
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A discipline in which
fundamentals are constantly brought into question (critical rationalism) is
unlikely to make significant progress simply because principles do not remain
unchallenged long enough for esoteric work to be done
Kuhn’s ambivalence on progress through revolutions
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Relativist position: the
question of whether a paradigm is better or not than the one it challenges does
not have a definitive neutral answer, but depends on the values of those who make
the judgment
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Kuhn rejects the relativist
position: later theories are better than earlier ones for solving puzzles in
the different environments to which they are applied à convinced believer in
scientific progress
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Two incompatible strands:
the relativist position and the alternative (how can a paradigm be said to
constitute progress over the one it replaces?)
Objective knowledge
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How can a paradigm change
take place all at once, but not necessarily in an instant?
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Distinction objective and
subjective knowledge
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Knowledge is a state of
mind
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Knowledge in the subjective
sense: individual knowledge/experiences
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Knowledge in the objective
sense: distinct from the kinds of things that reside in individual minds, observation
statements are publicly testable and debatable
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Objective relationships
exist between parts of the structure independently of whether individuals are
aware of that relationship
-
Similar to Karl Popper’s world 3
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A particular paradigm can
be an improvement on its rival? à
question about the objective relation between paradigms
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On subjective knowledge:
gestalt switches à
should be removed from Kuhn’s account for it leads to the confusion and
understanding of Kuhn as a relativist
additional summaries in philosophy of science
Some books about philosophy of science to consider:
