Book contents
- Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions at 60
- Cambridge Philosophical Anniversaries
- Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions at 60
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I Writing Structure
- Part II Normal Science and Science Education
- Part III Incommensurability, Progress, and Revolutions
- 7 Kuhn on Translation
- 8 Paradigm Shifts and Group Belief Change
- 9 The Puzzle of Promise, aka “Kuhn’s Problem”
- 10 The Orwellian Dimension of Scientific Progress
- 11 Essential Tensions in Twenty-First-Century Science
- Part IV Kuhn’s Impact on the Philosophy, Sociology, and History of Science
- Bibliography
- Index
10 - The Orwellian Dimension of Scientific Progress
from Part III - Incommensurability, Progress, and Revolutions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 January 2024
- Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions at 60
- Cambridge Philosophical Anniversaries
- Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions at 60
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I Writing Structure
- Part II Normal Science and Science Education
- Part III Incommensurability, Progress, and Revolutions
- 7 Kuhn on Translation
- 8 Paradigm Shifts and Group Belief Change
- 9 The Puzzle of Promise, aka “Kuhn’s Problem”
- 10 The Orwellian Dimension of Scientific Progress
- 11 Essential Tensions in Twenty-First-Century Science
- Part IV Kuhn’s Impact on the Philosophy, Sociology, and History of Science
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Kuhn claims after a revolutionary change of theory, scientists need to write new textbooks to incorporate the new theoretical perspective. The revisions do not merely involve the addition of the new discoveries. The task involves some rewriting of the history of the discipline. Kuhn suggests there are parallels to Orwell’s 1984. The “new” history of a scientific field is written to emphasize the continuity through the change. This chapter examines the role Kuhn’s comparison to 1984 plays in his argument, and the significance of the rewriting of a discipline’s history after a change of theory. The process tells us something about both how scientists are trained to work effectively and the nature of the changes that occur during a scientific revolution.
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- Information
- Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions at 60 , pp. 182 - 196Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024