• Why are scientific revolutions largely invisible (pp. 136-138)?

• In what connection does Kuhn quote Whitehead’s quip that “a science that hesitates to forget its founders is lost” and how does Kuhn modify it (pp. 138-140)?

• What is the mistaken impression created by the arrangement of material in textbooks (pp. 140-141)?

• How does the example of Boyle’s definition illustrate these points (pp. 141-143)?

• What is the context in which paradigms are tested (pp. 144-145)?

• What are Kuhn’s criticisms of probabilistic verification and Popper’s falsification as accounts of the testing of paradigms (pp. 145-147)?

Assignment for Wed. 11/2

• What are the reasons Kuhn cites “why proponents of competing paradigms must fail to make contact with each other’s viewpoints” (pp. 148-150)? (I count 3.)

• How does conversion to a new paradigm come about (pp. 150-152)?

• What sorts of arguments does Kuhn cite as leading to conversion (pp. 152-157)? (I count 4.)

• According to Kuhn, what is at issue in paradigm debates (pp. 157-159)?

• How and why do reasons and arguments offered during scientific revolutions differ from mathematical proofs (pp. 198-200)?

• What is the role of translation in persuasion of the value of a new paradigm (pp. 200-202)?

• What is the difference between persuasion and conversion (pp. 202-204)?