Stephen Toulmin: Born 22 March 1922 - Died 4 December 2009, "Human Understanding" published 1972.
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Stephen Toulmin
Stephen Toulmin is a well-known British philosopher famous for his "Model of Argument". However, another not quite as famous, but still relevant work by Toulmin was his "Human Understanding". While Human Understanding covers a wide range of topics and data, I will focus specifically on Toulmin's opposition against Thomas Kuhn's "The Structure of Science". In "The Structure of Science", Kuhn highlights what he calls, "the revolutionary model", this model dictates that one paradigm is succeeded. -
Stephen Toulmin
by another paradigm and the previous paradigm and will cause answered questions to reevaluated due to the new paradigm. Conversely, Toulmin created the "Evolutionary Model" as it relates to paradigm shifts. According to Toulmin (28), "An evolutionary account of conceptual development accordingly has two separate features to explain: the coherence and continuity by which we identify disciplines as distinct, and, the profound long-term changes by which they are transformed or superseded." -
Stephen Toulmin
He posed that paradigms changes are based on innovation and selection. This is not to say that the paradigm is completely change, but instead is built upon by the previous paradigm. It should be understood that this is the preponderance of historical cases and not the rule. Toulmin's evolutionary model is built up on the premise of competition. New innovations are subject to debate and are either agreed upon or discredited. Instead of outright discredit or approval, some theories may be revised. -
Stephen Toulmin
Toulmin (41), also talked "explanatory power." This concept was used to describe how scientist would except a concept between two or more competing concepts. The thought is, the higher the explanatory power of a concept, the more likely that concept is to be 'true' when compared to the other concepts. Toulmin's assertions were criticized by many but provide a suitable middle ground between absolutist's points of view and relativist's points of view. -
Stephen Toulmin
Work Cited: Toulmin, Stephen. "Human Understanding." Princeton University Press. 1972.