The Road since Structure: Philosophical Essays, 1970-1993, with an Autobiographical Interview

by Thomas S. Kuhn, James Conant (Editor), John Haugeland (Editor)

Overview

Thomas Kuhn will undoubtedly be remembered primarily for The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, a book that introduced one of the most influential conceptions of scientific progress to emerge during the twentieth century. The Road Since Structure, assembled with Kuhn's input before his death in 1996, follows the development of his thought through the later years of his life: collected here are several essays extending and rethinking the perspectives of Structure as well as an extensive, fascinating autobiographical interview in which Kuhn discusses the course of his life and philosophy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780226457994
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Publication date:	11/01/2002
Edition description:	1
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Thomas S. Kuhn (1922-96) was the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of 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.

Table of Contents

Foreword Jehane R. Kuhn
Editors' Introduction
PART 1: RECONCEIVING SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTIONS
1. What Are Scientific Revolutions?
2. Commensurability, Comparability, Communicability
3. Possible Worlds in History of Science
4. The Road since Structure
5. The Trouble with the Historical Philosophy of Science
PART 2: COMMENTS AND REPLIES
6. Reflections on My Critics
7. Theory Change as Structure Change: Comments on the Sneed Formalism
8. Metaphor in Science
9. Rationality and Theory Choice
10. The Natural and Human Sciences
11. Afterwords
PART 3: A DISCUSSION WITH THOMAS S. KUHN
Publications of Thomas S. Kuhn

Editorial Reviews

"In 1962, Thomas Kuhn wrote The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, arguing that science proceeds in two ways. 'Normal' science does experiments and expands our knowledge under agreed theories; but 'revolutionary' science introduces a new conceptual framework (a 'paradigm shift'), and demands that we abandon some of what was previously believed. . . . This very useful collection shows the evolution of Kuhn's ideas from 1970, with replies to his critics (including Popper and Feyerabend), and a long interview conducted a year before his death in 1996."

Guardian

"The essays fall into three groups, each arranged chronologically. The first shows the development of Kuhn's thought from 1980 through 1990, the second consists of his responses to criticisms of other philosophers, the last is a candid, highly interesting and informative interview Kuhn did a year before his death. . . . His work is central to the question of the relation of science and culture."

Library Journal

"Thomas Kuhn wrote The Structure of Scientific Revolutions in 1962 for a long-forgotten series of monographs called the International Encyclopedia of Unified Science, which is ironic, in retrospect, because Kuhn's masterpiece did not really unify science at all. It broke it open, exposing the inner workings of human creativity and starting, along the way, a thousand arguments."

New Yorker - Malcolm Gladwell

"It's sometimes claimed that Kuhn toned down his radical views after Structure, but this is a mistake. He did occasionally repudiate earlier ideas, but the bulk of his later work is a significant articulation and defense of his fundamental views, not a retraction. . . . The Road Since Structure ends with a fascinating 68-page interview with Kuhn, recorded a year before his death. This gives a strong sense of his personality and of the development of his ideas and career. It brings out the extent to which the history of science was for him from the start a vehicle for philosophical inquiry."

London Review of Books - Peter Lipton

"It's sometimes claimed that Kuhn toned down his radical views after Structure, but this is a mistake. He did occasionally repudiate earlier ideas, but the bulk of his later work is a significant articulation and defense of his fundamental views, not a retraction. . . . The Road Since Structure ends with a fascinating 68-page interview with Kuhn, recorded a year before his death. This gives a strong sense of his personality and of the development of his ideas and career. It brings out the extent to which the history of science was for him from the start a vehicle for philosophical inquiry."
--Peter Lipton "London Review of Books"

"The essays fall into three groups, each arranged chronologically. The first shows the development of Kuhn's thought from 1980 through 1990, the second consists of his responses to criticisms of other philosophers, the last is a candid, highly interesting and informative interview Kuhn did a year before his death. . . . His work is central to the question of the relation of science and culture."
-- "Library Journal"

"In 1962, Thomas Kuhn wrote The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, arguing that science proceeds in two ways. 'Normal' science does experiments and expands our knowledge under agreed theories; but 'revolutionary' science introduces a new conceptual framework (a 'paradigm shift'), and demands that we abandon some of what was previously believed. . . . This very useful collection shows the evolution of Kuhn's ideas from 1970, with replies to his critics (including Popper and Feyerabend), and a long interview conducted a year before his death in 1996."-- "Guardian"

"Thomas Kuhn wrote The Structure of Scientific Revolutions in 1962 for a long-forgotten series of monographs called the International Encyclopedia of Unified Science, which is ironic, in retrospect, because Kuhn's masterpiece did not really unify science at all. It broke it open, exposing the inner workings of human creativity and starting, along the way, a thousand arguments."--Malcolm Gladwell "New Yorker"

From the Publisher

"Thomas Kuhn wrote The Structure of Scientific Revolutions in 1962 for a long-forgotten series of monographs called the International Encyclopedia of Unified Science, which is ironic, in retrospect, because Kuhn's masterpiece did not really unify science at all. It broke it open, exposing the inner workings of human creativity and starting, along the way, a thousand arguments."

New Yorker - Malcolm Gladwell

The Road Since Structure posthumously collects philosophical essays by Thomas Kuhn, the renowned philosopher and historian of science. Students of Kuhn will welcome the chance to follow the pathways he explored after the publication of his landmark study, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, the most frequently cited academic work of the last 40 years. Here Structure's key concepts -- "scientific revolutions" and "paradigm shifts" and "incommensurability" -- are elaborated and qualified. These essays suggest why Structure spurred the intellectual thought of an entire generation. This book, with its moving concluding interview, which Kuhn granted only months before his death, is vital reading.

bn.com

Conant and Haugeland, both professors of philosophy at the University of Chicago, provide the most complete collection of Kuhn's thought since was published in 1962. Included are essays which refine the basic concepts set forth in , replies to critics, and an edited transcript of a tape-recorded three-day discussion between Kuhn and Aristides Baltas, Kostas Gavroglu, and Vassiliki Kindi. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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