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- Title
Kuhn's unsuccessful revisionism: a rejoinder to John Selby.
- Authors
Alexander, Jeffrey C.
- Abstract
In the article, the author presents a response to the article "Kuhn and the Parsonians," by John Selby, commenting on the book "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions," by Thomas Kuhn. The author's main ambition was to present a decisive empirical study of social scientific change, one whose theoretical "lessons" and relevance would be there for all to see. All students of science owe Kuhn a debt of gratitude for raising the banner of post-positivist thinking in such an effectively polemical way. Still, Kuhn greatly overstated his case, and in doing so he put the very post-positivist banner he carried in a vulnerable and uncertain position. In Kuhn's "Postscript," he tries unsuccessfully to separate the heretofore "necessary" relation he posited between the group and ideational elements of science. Kuhn has supported the existence of group consensus so strongly he has endorsed a purely network approach to the organization of scientific beliefs. Yet he has also acknowledged that such unanimity may not actually be produced.
- Subjects
CRITICISM; STRUCTURE of Scientific Revolutions, The (Book : Kuhn); KUHN, Thomas S., 1922-1996; SELBY, John; PHILOSOPHY &; science; SOCIOLOGY
- Publication
Canadian Journal of Sociology, 1982, Vol 7, Issue 1, p66
- ISSN
0318-6431
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2307/3340549