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Is Kuhn’s “World Change through Revolutions” Comprehensible?

  • Paul Hoyningen-Huene*
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer review

Abstract

Kuhn’s talk of “world change through revolutions” has mostly been met with perplexity. What is it really that Kuhn wants to express in this strange way? I will first review what Kuhn exactly says on this topic. Next, I show that the world change talk is at least not inconsistent and has some initial plausibility. Then I will discuss whether “world change through revolutions” should be replaced by “change of world view”. This will show that “world change through revolutions” is motivated by a strictly non-presentist historiographic stance. However, Kuhn’s intended message can also be expressed in a philosophically much less provocative way.

Original languageGerman
Pages (from-to)55-72
Number of pages18
JournalĖpistemologija i filosofija nauki (Epistemology and Philosophy of Science)
Volume59
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

Keywords

  • hypotheses becoming facts
  • non-presentist historiography
  • scientific revolutions
  • Thomas Kuhn
  • world change
  • world view change

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Cultural Studies
  • Education
  • Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
  • Philosophy
  • General Arts and Humanities
  • History and Philosophy of Science

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