Structures

(26 Sep 2021)

Some months ago I had time to get a bit more familiar with philosophy of science and read Thomas Kuhn’s famous landmark book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. In the book, Kuhn argues that science progresses in patterns, namely in different characteristic periods. These phases can be roughly divided to normal and revolutionary phase. During the periods of normal science, scientists work following a paradigm, which allows them to efficiently produce knowledge based on the methods and theories of the paradigm. However, when anomalies between observations and the paradigm accumulate enough, the scientific community enters a phase of turmoil with an attempt to renew he predominating deficient theories. Eventually the phase produces a new paradigm (which explains the observations more comprehensively), and a new phase of normal science starts. Changes in the phases of rapidly functioning normal science (which is efficient partly due to the trust on the paradigm) and turmoil (where conceptual breakthroughs are needed) create a cycle which drives scientific progress. I find Kuhn’s view interesting since it does include a sort of sociological and cultural perspective, which brings a novel view on the previous attempts to explain the progress of science. Not to mention that the book also gives insights in the history of science.