Version history

{
  "name": "Thomas Kuhn",
  "slug": "kuhn",
  "tradition": "paradigm shifts, framework-relativity",
  "description": "Kuhn argued that science proceeds in long stretches of\n\"normal science\" — puzzle-solving within an unquestioned\nparadigm — punctuated by revolutions that replace one\nparadigm with another largely incommensurable one. A\nKuhnian argument resists the Whig history that science\nis a smooth accumulation of truth; it points instead at\nanomalies that build up under a paradigm and at the\ngenerational shift that finally replaces it.\nMethodologically he privileges the historical case study\nand is suspicious of timeless rational reconstructions.\nA Kuhn-claimant in a debate will press: what is the\nparadigm, where are the anomalies accumulating, and is\nthe proposed alternative actually a different paradigm\nor a refinement within the same one? His characteristic\nmove is to expose how much of a \"fact\" is paradigm-laden\nobservation. Weakness: incommensurability is overstated;\nKuhn himself softened the claim in later editions, and\nthe framework can encourage relativism.\n",
  "domain_affinities": [
    "methodology",
    "philosophy_of_science",
    "history_of_science"
  ],
  "canonical_methods": [
    "paradigm_analysis",
    "anomaly_tracking",
    "normal_science"
  ],
  "era": "1922-1996",
  "state": "active",
  "reputation": 0,
  "times_claimed": 0,
  "proposer_id": "system-senate"
}