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The Essential Tension: Selected Studies in Scientific Tradition and Change
"Kuhn has the unmistakable address of a man, who, so far from wanting to score points, is anxious above all else to get at the truth of matters."—Sir Peter Medawar, Nature
390 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1977
About the author
Thomas S. Kuhn
39 books586 followersAmerican historian and philosopher of science, a leading contributor to the change of focus in the philosophy and sociology of science in the 1960s. Thomas Samuel Kuhn was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He received a doctorate in theoretical physics from Harvard University in 1949. But he later shifted his interest to the history and philosophy of science, which he taught at Harvard, the University of California at Berkeley, Princeton University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
In 1962, Kuhn published The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, which depicted the development of the basic natural sciences in an innovative way. According to Kuhn, the sciences do not uniformly progress strictly by scientific method. Rather, there are two fundamentally different phases of scientific development in the sciences. In the first phase, scientists work within a paradigm (set of accepted beliefs). When the foundation of the paradigm weakens and new theories and scientific methods begin to replace it, the next phase of scientific discovery takes place. Kuhn believes that scientific progress—that is, progress from one paradigm to another—has no logical reasoning. Kuhn's theory has triggered widespread, controversial discussion across many scientific disciplines.
In 1962, Kuhn published The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, which depicted the development of the basic natural sciences in an innovative way. According to Kuhn, the sciences do not uniformly progress strictly by scientific method. Rather, there are two fundamentally different phases of scientific development in the sciences. In the first phase, scientists work within a paradigm (set of accepted beliefs). When the foundation of the paradigm weakens and new theories and scientific methods begin to replace it, the next phase of scientific discovery takes place. Kuhn believes that scientific progress—that is, progress from one paradigm to another—has no logical reasoning. Kuhn's theory has triggered widespread, controversial discussion across many scientific disciplines.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
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January 2, 2020Brilliant!
Kuhn is one of very few Scientific Historians, who happens to also be a philosopher. In many ways, he is the father of coming at the three disciplines in this manner. There are so many truly brilliant concepts in this book, it is hard to really point any any one area that would sell this book.
Some of the themes:
1) How is knowledge captured? What exactly is this learning, particularly as relates to new discoveries? What exactly is happening to the individual as he takes in this knowledge.
2) Why is it that lots of innovation tends to happen all at once and then there are periods of considerably less innovation?
He moves the entire discourse away from just rules based learning to far more complex ideas of learning. For example, so many in education would simply think that if you could get a child to parrot rules, this is learning. However, Kuhn puts forth a wonderful argument for a different type of learning. This plays beautifully into the current work done on plasticity of the mind.
Excellent excellent!
Kuhn is one of very few Scientific Historians, who happens to also be a philosopher. In many ways, he is the father of coming at the three disciplines in this manner. There are so many truly brilliant concepts in this book, it is hard to really point any any one area that would sell this book.
Some of the themes:
1) How is knowledge captured? What exactly is this learning, particularly as relates to new discoveries? What exactly is happening to the individual as he takes in this knowledge.
2) Why is it that lots of innovation tends to happen all at once and then there are periods of considerably less innovation?
He moves the entire discourse away from just rules based learning to far more complex ideas of learning. For example, so many in education would simply think that if you could get a child to parrot rules, this is learning. However, Kuhn puts forth a wonderful argument for a different type of learning. This plays beautifully into the current work done on plasticity of the mind.
Excellent excellent!
June 15, 2010
Re-read chapter 7 and realized that just as in Structure of Scientific Revolutions (SSR) the second half of the text is quite profound and I had overlooked it. In particular the distinction between two kinds of discoveries and the need not only to observe and anomaly, but also to eventually name it. The idea of the world changing ("reacting back") is present in this article.
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August 19, 2022A more flexible reading on some issues he approached in "Structure" with new essays, some originals, such as the one regarding the relationship between science and art
March 28, 2023
I recommend
* A Function for Thought Experiments (1964): What do scientists discover by using thought experiments?
* The Essential Tension: Tradition and Innovation in Scientific Research (1959): a great summary of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962). After reading this, there's little need to read the actual book!
* The Historical Structure of Scientific Discovery (1962). It's basically a summary of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962), especially chapter 6, "Anomaly and the Emergence of Scientific Discoveries"
* Mathematical versus Experimental Traditions in the Development of Physical Science (1976): Kuhn proposed two kinds of science: "classical/mathematical" (astronomy, statics, music theory) and "experimental/Baconian" (electricity, magnetism, heat, chemistry, biology). This is a very perceptive classification and explains quite a lot.
* Concepts of Cause in the Development of Physics (1971)
The rest are wordy papers against the critics. Don't bother.
* A Function for Thought Experiments (1964): What do scientists discover by using thought experiments?
* The Essential Tension: Tradition and Innovation in Scientific Research (1959): a great summary of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962). After reading this, there's little need to read the actual book!
* The Historical Structure of Scientific Discovery (1962). It's basically a summary of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962), especially chapter 6, "Anomaly and the Emergence of Scientific Discoveries"
* Mathematical versus Experimental Traditions in the Development of Physical Science (1976): Kuhn proposed two kinds of science: "classical/mathematical" (astronomy, statics, music theory) and "experimental/Baconian" (electricity, magnetism, heat, chemistry, biology). This is a very perceptive classification and explains quite a lot.
* Concepts of Cause in the Development of Physics (1971)
The rest are wordy papers against the critics. Don't bother.
December 1, 2021
A real classic... paradigmatic and iconic...
June 5, 2016
En este libro se agrupan distintos artículos escritos por Kuhn.
Es interesante conocer de primera mano qué supuso la confusión con respecto al término "paradigma" y cómo esto le condujo a renombrarlo como: "matriz disciplinar".
Es interesante conocer de primera mano qué supuso la confusión con respecto al término "paradigma" y cómo esto le condujo a renombrarlo como: "matriz disciplinar".
August 7, 2011
Un bon livre où Kuhn tente de combler les lacunes de La structures des révolutions scientifiques.
August 23, 2016
This is an exploration and sometime defense of Kuhn's work. Each of the essays seems to go on a little too long and left me behind every now and again.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews