From the Bookshelf of Science and Inquiry…

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

Thomas S. Kuhn

Start date: February 1, 2022

Finish date: February 28, 2022

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November 2022 - Rise of the Mammals
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What Members Thought

Feb 01, 2009 Amy rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2009, science

I came to this book after reading and discussing a number of more recent articles on the nature of science for a class in teaching laboratory science. Several of the articles referred to this book or ideas from the book as seminal in changing how science educators view the nature of science. Since my local public library had a copy, I decided I'd read it.

It took me about three weeks to read. For me, that's a long time. I found the vocabulary and the way the author expressed himself to be difficu I came to this book after reading and discussing a number of more recent articles on the nature of science for a class in teaching laboratory science. Several of the articles referred to this book or ideas from the book as seminal in changing how science educators view the nature of science. Since my local public library had a copy, I decided I'd read it.

It took me about three weeks to read. For me, that's a long time. I found the vocabulary and the way the author expressed himself to be difficult. I slugged through because of the quality of the ideas.

Kuhn proposes a new theory for looking at the history and philosophy of science. Science endeavors consist of periods of normal science and crises. During periods of normal science, a scientist's activities consist of problem solving, or trying to piece together a puzzle. The field the scientist works in has a paradigm which describes the common set of theories and laws of the community. Although there might be minor differences, most community members ascribe to the paradigms of the community and use them as a guideline for work.
A crises occurs when a scientist finds that the puzzle does not conform to the shared paradigm. As the crises develops, it eventually becomes apparent that the current paradigm is inapplicable to this problem. If the crises is significant enough, it results in the development of a new paradigm. This new paradigm overthrows the old paradigm and then becomes the basis of new scientific work - until confronted by another crises.

This relatively thin book is full of ideas and historical examples and is very applicable to my education and my life.
I have been compelled to take notes for portions of this book (this doesn't happen very often for me - especially in self-selected reading.) I almost wish I had written reflections chapter by chapter, so I could come back to the ideas and think some more about them (again, this does not happen very often).

One particular thought is about the revisionist nature of science history, as typically understood by practicing scientists. There is a tendency to linearize scientific progress. (something about standing on the shoulders of giants comes to mind?) One discovery leads to the next, which leads to the next, which will eventually lead to the 'truth' about how it all works. The paradigm shift theory Kuhn proposes does not match this history. But because the goal of scientific texts is not transmission of the history of science but rather transmission of 'correct' scientific theories, there is an incentive in the process to make the history seem linear. Terms from a new paradigm are used to describe the ideas from the old paradigm which are found to still be valid. Invalid ideas from the old paradigm are discarded.

The role of textbooks was addressed as was the increasing specialization of scientific communities, and the increased isolation of them from the general populace. The nature of communities and their influence on what is studied and how it is studied (and even on what is perceived!) was explored.
One discussion starting on page 170 seemed particularly releveant. It is about what science is striving for - or the idea of a goal or truth. A premise I have held (without much thought) is that there is an underlying organization to the universe. This underlying organization is not readily apparent or understandable, and a goal of scientific inquiry is to attempt to get closer and closer to this goal. Kuhn proposes that there might not be a goal...and that the nature of science is not greatly changed by the nonexistence of this goal. This is one of those big ideas that I know I haven't absorbed fully yet. Given some themes I have discovered in my life lately about dealing with ambiguity and wishing for an overarching framework instead of a set of seemingly poorly connected life strategies, this idea seems like it might be helpful.

It seems like the more I learn about anything, the more I find that I still have to learn.
Although I would like to read this again for the ideas, the difficulty I had wading through the text will probably make me look for other sources of the same information. I read in other reviews that there are handouts and websites which express the same ideas more concisely. ...more

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