-
Early Life
Thomas Samuel Kuhn was an American historian of science that was born on July 18, 1922, in Cincinnati, Ohio. His father was a veteran of World War I and was an engineer who got his education at Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His mother, Minette, was a graduate of Vassar College who wrote and edited for publications. Thomas Kuhns death is dated on June 17, 1996, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. -
Educational Journey
Thomas Kuhn had pursued his education in the field of physics. His academic pursuit began in 1943 when he earned his bachelor's degree in physics from Harvard University with summa cum laude. After the war, he went back to Harvard to obtain his master’s degree in physics in 1946. Later in 1949, he was able to obtain his doctorate in physics with a concentration in the application of quantum mechanics to solid-state physics. -
Physics to Philosophy of Science
From 1948-1956, he began to teach the history of science at Harvard to undergraduate students. This led Kuhn to shift his academic focus from physics to the history of science. He also became a professor who taught the history and philosophy of science. As a result, he authored various books including The Structure of Scientific Revolutions that was published in 1962. -
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Kuhns second book, Structure of Scientific Revolutions discusses the concepts of a paradigm shift. A paradigm shift is a concept that describes the process of taking an accepted truth and changing it. In other words, it is a change in thinking. This occurs over a series of phases to include normal science, model crisis, model revolution, and ultimately a paradigm shift. For a more in-depth review of the phases of a paradigm shift, please watch the video below:
https://youtu.be/Yn8cCDtVd5w -
Works Cited
Bird, Alexander. “Thomas Kuhn.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 31 Oct. 2018, plato.stanford.edu/entries/thomas-kuhn/. Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Thomas S. Kuhn". Encyclopedia Britannica, 14 Jul. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-S-Kuhn. Accessed 30 September 2023. “Kuhn’s Cycle: Paradigms and Criticism.” YouTube, Sprightly Pedagogue, 3 Feb. 2018, https://youtu.be/Yn8cCDtVd5w. Accessed 30 Sept. 2023. -
Works Cited Cont
Kuhn, Thomas S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. 4th ed., The University of Chicago Press, 2012.
Sack, Harald. “Thomas Kuhn and the Structure of Scientific Revolutions.” SciHi Blog, 18 July 2021, scihi.org/thomas-kuhn-scientific-revolutions/. Sigurdsson, Skúli. “The Nature of Scientific Knowledge: An Interview with Thomas S. Kuhn.” MPRL, Edition Open Access, 2016, www.mprl-series.mpg.de/proceedings/8/3/index.html.