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Thomas Khun
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Teaching & Education
Thomas Kuhn earned his bachelor’s degree in 1943 and his masters in 1946. He earned both degrees in physics at Harvard university. He also earned his PhD in the history of science there in 1949. Between 1951-1991, Kuhn taught the philosophy of science at Harvard University, the University of California Berkeley, Princeton University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. -
The Copernican Revolution
In Kuhn’s first book, the copernican revolution, he examines the heliocentric theory that was developed during the Renaissance period. The Copernican Revolution described the paradigm shift from the Ptolemaic model of the solar system to the heliocentric model. His work highlights the changes in the fields of astronomy, cosmology, physics, philosophy and more. -
“The Structure of Scientific Revolutions”
Kuhn published a book which argued that repeating patterns cause scientific activity to occur and this can be distinguished by studying the history of the patterns. This book was the most cited academic work in humanities and social science fields between 1976-1983. https://youtu.be/L70T4pQv7P8 -
The Essential Tension
Kuhn published a collection of his early essays that highlighted the importance of traditional science. It essentially revolutionized the history of science and philosophy. Fields such as economics, sociology, and political science utilized Kuhn’s ideas of paradigms. -
Sources
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-S-Kuhn
Bird, A. (2018, October 31). Thomas Kuhn. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/thomas-kuhn/.
Internet encyclopedia of philosophy. (n.d.). https://iep.utm.edu/kuhn-ts/.