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Philosophy of Science
Thomas Kuhn was born on July 18th, 1922 and is possibly one of the best know philosophers of science because of the way he challenged the rest of the science community not to settle on for what we believe to be true, because that would hinder further progress in that field of science. He was a graduate of Harvard university and is probably best known for his book "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions". -
Schooling and war
Thomas Kuhn attend Harvard where he graduated with a bachelors in Physics. After graduation, America was was at war so he did his part as a researcher that had the job of finding different ways to counter enemies attacks. After the war, he returned back to Harvard to get his masters and doctorates in Physics. Clearly, a very intelligent person who had now saw many different ways that people think. This is what probably led him to teach others on the Philosophy of Science. -
First book
Thomas Kuhn's first book released in 1957 and was called Copernican Revolution. In this book he focused on the Heliocentric Theory. This theory is the theory that the sun is a center point of the universe in which the earth and other planets revolve around it. In this book he went over the different thought processes of what man knew what to be true based on the observations they were able to make at the time. This seemed to be the beginnings of his ideas about paradigms. -
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
In 1957, Kuhn released his 2nd book The Structure of Scientific Revolution and turned the world of science upside down. In this book, he went over how there were major paradigms in the history of science and that we should always challenge what we know as true to discover new things. He essentially wants scientists of a certain field to accept assumptions, even if they might be wrong. This allows for new discoveries and advancements to be made. -
I summary of Thomas Kuhn's life
Thomas Kuhn turned the scientific world upside down and it was all because he challenged the scientific community to think outside the box. Understanding one's field is the for front for all his arguments. Once you have an understanding of a field, I would like to quote Thomas Kuhn “Normal science, the activity in which most scientists inevitably spend almost all their time, is predicated on the assumption that the scientific community knows what the world is like”. -
Youtube Video
I found a couple videos on youtube that really helped me understand the meaning of "paradigm" and would highly recommend a watch. Pedagogue, Sprightly. “Kuhn's Cycle: Paradigms and Criticism.” YouTube, YouTube, 3 Feb. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn8cCDtVd5w. Leiden University - Faculty of Humanities. “Chapter 2.1: Thomas Kuhn, Normal Science.” YouTube, YouTube, 27 Sept. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOGZEZ96ynI. -
Reference
Please see below for my references Slide 2
"Thomas Kuhn." Famous Scientists. famousscientists.org. 12 Jun. 2017. Web. 8/4/2019
<www.famousscientists.org/thomas-kuhn/>.
Slide 3
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Thomas S. Kuhn.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 14 July 2019, www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-S-Kuhn. Slide 4
Kuhn, Thomas S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. 3rd edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.
