The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Foundations of Unity of Science, #2)

by Thomas S Kuhn

Thomas S. Kuhn's classic book is now available with a new index.

"A landmark in intellectual history which has attracted attention far beyond its own immediate field. . . . It is written with a combination of depth and clarity that make it an almost unbroken series of aphorisms. . . . Kuhn does not permit truth to be a criterion of scientific theories, he would presumably not claim his own theory to be true. But if causing a revolution is the hallmark of a superior paradigm, [this book] has been a resounding success". --Nicholas Wade, "Science"

"Perhaps the best explanation of [the] process of discovery". --William Erwin Thompson, "New York Times Book Review"

"Occasionally there emerges a book which has an influence far beyond its originally intended audience. . . . Thomas Kuhn's "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" . . . has clearly emerged as just such a work". --Ron Johnston, "Times Higher Education Supplement"

"Among the most influential academic books in this century". -- "Choice"

--One of "The Hundred Most Influential Books Since the Second World War", "Times Literary Supplement"

Thomas S. Kuhn was the Laurence Rockefeller Professor Emeritus of linguistics and philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His books include "The Essential Tension; Black-Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity, 1894-1912; " and "The Copernican Revolution".

• ISBN10: 0226458083
• ISBN13: 9780226458083
• Publish Date: 15 December 1996 (first published 1 December 1970)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 30 August 2012
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: University of Chicago Press
• Edition: New ed of 3 Revised ed
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 240
• Language: English

Reviews

[celinenyx]

Isn't it ironic that a book about paradigm shifts caused a paradigm shift in itself? And isn't it even more ironic that I'm studying this book from a humanities perspective, a science Kuhn himself might not even call a science?

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is a fascinating book because it works out, detail after tiny detail, how a scientific revolution takes place. One of the most interesting ideas Kuhn posits is that we can't compare two paradigms with each other (say, Newtonian physics and the theory of relativity), because they both encompass a different paradigm, and with that paradigm a different language and way of seeing the world.

Kuhn's writing is terribly dry, and his book could have definitely been shorter. His examples can be repetitive; he often makes the same point two, three, four times throughout the course of the book. Structure isn't exactly light reading, but it contains some very interesting ideas about the nature of science and the nature of the progress of science.