Author Archive

Thomas Kuhn

Thomas Kuhn (1922–1996) was an American philosopher of science whose seminal work, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962), fundamentally reshaped the understanding of scientific progress by introducing the concepts of "paradigms" and "incommensurability." He argued that science advances not through linear accumulation, but via episodic "paradigm shifts" where entire frameworks of assumptions are overturned. His work bridged philosophy, history, and sociology, challenging positivist views and deeply influencing subsequent thought in literature and cultural theory.

35 summaries in the archive

Epistemology The essential tension – Thomas Kuhn Thomas Kuhn

Thomas Kuhn argues that scientific progress depends on an essential tension between adherence to tradition and the pursuit…

36 min read

History Black-body theory and the quantum discontinuity, 1894-1912 – Thomas Kuhn Thomas Kuhn

Thomas Kuhn argues that the traditional account of quantum theory's birth misconstrues Planck's 1900 work as a revolutionary…

39 min read

Epistemology The Road since Structure – Thomas Kuhn Thomas Kuhn

Kuhn collects essays tracing his philosophy of science since 1962, clarifying that his concepts of paradigm and incommensurability…

36 min read

Astronomy The Copernican revolution – Thomas Kuhn Thomas Kuhn

The Copernican Revolution was a revolution in ideas, a transformation of man's conception of the universe and of…

39 min read

Epistemology The Structure of Scientific Revolutions – Thomas Kuhn Thomas Kuhn

Kuhn argues that science does not progress through linear accumulation but through revolutionary upheavals that transform foundational assumptions.

39 min read