Thomas kuhn

Thomas Kuhn

By hockleyfarm

  • Thomas Kuhn

    Thomas Kuhn, an American philosopher of science, was born on July 18, 1922, in Cincinnati, Ohio. His parents, Menette and Samuel Kuhn were of the Jewish faith and sought to give the best education to Thomas by putting him through private schools at a young age. Kuhn attended Harvard University and graduated with his Ph.D. in Physics in 1946.

  • Incommensurability Thesis

    Incommensurability Thesis
    Incommensurability is defined by the lack of comparability using a neutral standard. This means rival paradigms are incommensurable. There is no neutral way to say which paradigm is better. Thomas Kuhn basically says there is no scientific progress when a scientific revolution takes place. This means the old standard (paradigm) collapses because the standards are no longer adhered to. This will start a new paradigm from scratch.

  • Paradigm Shifts

    Paradigm Shifts
    Thomas Kuhn taught history of science at Harvard and later at the University of California, Berkley. While at Berkley, Thomas wrote and published his most influential piece, called The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Which introduced us to the term paradigm shift. This was first published as an article, and in it, he claimed scientific fields have periodic paradigm shifts. He suggested paradigm shifts allow for new and different approaches in the scientific field.

  • Influence

    Influence
    Thomas Kuhn's work has still been proven helpful for many philosophers today. Take Paul Hoyningen-Huene, for example. Paul developed an interpretation of perception and world change after having the pleasure of working with Thomas Kuhn. Paul's theory would use both Thomas Khun and Immanuel Kant's claims about a scientific revolution by tieing Kant's phenonema and Kuhns Incommensurability theories together.