Feyerabend and Kuhn

authored by: Paul Hoyningen-Huene
Abstract: I begin the chapter with biographical remarks, especially, when and how Feyerabend and Kuhn met. Then, I discuss the concept of incommensurability. Perhaps surprisingly, Feyerabend and Kuhn did disagree about several aspects of this concept, which has often not been seen appropriately in the literature. I first discuss their agreements, and then the main differences in their understanding of incommensurability. Then I discuss Feyerabend’s general criticism of Kuhn’s Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Feyerabend’s criticism is rather harsh, explicitly accusing Kuhn of propaganda. Feyerabend is especially enraged about Kuhn’s positive evaluation of Kuhn’s normal science. However, a closer analysis of Feyerabend’s arguments against normal science reveal that they are not very strong and somewhat biased. The chapter ends with some remarks about Feyerabend’s and Kuhn’s reconciliation in the late 1980s.
Organisation(s): Institute of Philosophy
Type: Contribution to book/anthology
Pages: 219-238
No. of pages: 20
Publication date: 20.11.2024
Publication status: E-pub ahead of print
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Anthropology, Social Sciences (miscellaneous), Literature and Literary Theory, History and Philosophy of Science
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-71938-7_12 (Access: Closed)

BibTeX

@inbook{4e9d2c6297da4c508c3983cb2fdb6467,
title = "Feyerabend and Kuhn",
abstract = "I begin the chapter with biographical remarks, especially, when and how Feyerabend and Kuhn met. Then, I discuss the concept of incommensurability. Perhaps surprisingly, Feyerabend and Kuhn did disagree about several aspects of this concept, which has often not been seen appropriately in the literature. I first discuss their agreements, and then the main differences in their understanding of incommensurability. Then I discuss Feyerabend{\textquoteright}s general criticism of Kuhn{\textquoteright}s Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Feyerabend{\textquoteright}s criticism is rather harsh, explicitly accusing Kuhn of propaganda. Feyerabend is especially enraged about Kuhn{\textquoteright}s positive evaluation of Kuhn{\textquoteright}s normal science. However, a closer analysis of Feyerabend{\textquoteright}s arguments against normal science reveal that they are not very strong and somewhat biased. The chapter ends with some remarks about Feyerabend{\textquoteright}s and Kuhn{\textquoteright}s reconciliation in the late 1980s.",
keywords = "Ideology, Incommensurability, Normal science, Paul Feyerabend, Scientific progress, Thomas Kuhn",
author = "Paul Hoyningen-Huene",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024.",
year = "2024",
month = nov,
day = "20",
doi = "10.1007/978-3-031-71938-7_12",
language = "English",
series = "Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science",
publisher = "Springer Nature",
pages = "219--238",
booktitle = "Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science",
address = "United States",
}