B
All booksBook details
Cover of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

Thomas S. Kuhn

PhilosophyScienceHistory
Publish date
1955
Publisher
The University of Chicago Press
Description
A good book may have the power to change the way we see the world, but a great book actually becomes part of our daily consciousness, pervading our thinking to the point that we take it for granted, and we forget how provocative and challenging its ideas once were—and still are. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is that kind of book. When it was first published in 1962, it was a landmark event in the history and philosophy of science. Fifty years later, it still has many lessons to teach. With The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Kuhn challenged long-standing linear notions of scientific progress, arguing that transformative ideas don’t arise from the day-to-day, gradual process of experimentation and data accumulation but that the revolutions in science, those breakthrough moments that disrupt accepted thinking and offer unanticipated ideas, occur outside of “normal science,” as he called it. Though Kuhn was writing when physics ruled the sciences, his ideas on how scientific revolutions bring order to the anomalies that amass over time in research experiments are still instructive in our biotech age. This new edition of Kuhn’s essential work in the history of science includes an insightful introduction by Ian Hacking, which clarifies terms popularized by Kuhn, including paradigm and incommensurability, and applies Kuhn’s ideas to the science of today. Usefully keyed to the separate sections of the book, Hacking’s introduction provides important background information as well as a contemporary context. Newly designed, with an expanded index, this edition will be eagerly welcomed by the next generation of readers seeking to understand the history of our perspectives on science.
Explore CitationsAdd to Want to Read

Where to read & listen

Amazon / KindleRakuten KoboAudibleBookshop.orgLibro.fmGoogle Play

This page may contain affiliate links. We may earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you.

Book data & covers provided by Google Books and Open Library. Connections and summaries generated with Gemini AI.

Report incorrect data

Books cited in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

Suggested by AI, not verified against the full text. Check the original book before using them as a source.

  1. Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact

    Ludwik Fleck

    Citation

    Acknowledged in the preface as anticipating Kuhn's core concepts of thought collectives and paradigms.

    High relevanceExplore

  2. Personal Knowledge

    Michael Polanyi

    Citation

    Cited for the concept of tacit knowledge that scientific communities rely on during normal science.

    High relevanceExplore

  3. Patterns of Discovery

    Norwood Russell Hanson

    Citation

    Cited regarding the theory-ladenness of observation and perceptual gestalt shifts in scientific observation.

    High relevanceExplore

  4. Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica

    Isaac Newton

    Citation

    Examined as the foundational exemplar establishing a paradigm for classical mechanics.

    High relevanceExplore

  5. Études Galiléennes

    Alexandre Koyré

    Citation

    Heavily influenced Kuhn's historiography and understanding of conceptual shifts in the Scientific Revolution.

    High relevanceExplore

  6. The Logic of Scientific Discovery

    Karl Popper

    Citation

    Cited critically regarding demarcation, falsificationism, and the rarity of revolutionary tests in science.

    High relevanceExplore

  7. De revolutionibus orbium coelestium

    Nicolaus Copernicus

    Citation

    Analyzed extensively as the quintessential historical exemplar of a paradigm crisis and revolution.

    High relevanceExplore

  8. Traite Elementaire de Chimie

    Antoine Lavoisier

    Citation

    Analyzed in detail as the prime example of a chemical revolution displacing phlogiston.

    Medium relevanceExplore

  9. An Essay on Metaphysics

    R. G. Collingwood

    Citation

    Cited for its philosophical analysis of absolute presuppositions underlying scientific eras.

    Medium relevanceExplore

  10. The Aim and Structure of Physical Theory

    Pierre Duhem

    Citation

    Referenced regarding holistic underdetermination and how theories resist piecemeal refutation by anomalous observations.

    Medium relevanceExplore

  11. The Child's Conception of the World

    Jean Piaget

    Citation

    Referenced in discussion of perceptual categories and how conceptual frameworks guide developmental understanding.

    Medium relevanceExplore

  12. The Edge of Objectivity

    Charles Coulston Gillispie

    Citation

    Cited as a prominent contemporary historical reference on scientific development.

    Medium relevanceExplore

There may be more citations. We show up to 12 per book to keep the list manageable.

Recommendations

  • Against Method

    Paul Feyerabend

    AI Recommendation

    Pushes incommensurability further into methodological anarchism, arguing against fixed universal scientific rules.

    High relevanceExplore

  • The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes

    Imre Lakatos

    AI Recommendation

    Synthesizes Kuhn's sociological paradigms with Popper's rational methodology to evaluate progressive research programmes.

    High relevanceExplore

  • Knowledge and Social Imagery

    David Bloor

    AI Recommendation

    Foundational text of the Strong Programme, sociologizing Kuhn's views on scientific belief systems.

    Medium relevanceExplore

  • Laboratory Life: The Construction of Scientific Facts

    Bruno Latour and Steve Woolgar

    AI Recommendation

    Extends Kuhn's community focus into anthropological field study of daily scientific practice.

    Medium relevanceExplore

  • Representing and Intervening

    Ian Hacking

    AI Recommendation

    Examines scientific realism post-Kuhn, focusing on experiment rather than purely theoretical paradigm shifts.

    Medium relevanceExplore

  • The Scientific Image

    Bas C. van Fraassen

    AI Recommendation

    Presents constructive empiricism as an alternative anti-realist interpretation of scientific theoretical change.

    Medium relevanceExplore