Phi 272
Fall 2013
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Phi 272 F13
Reading guide for Fr. 11/8: Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, §XIII and p.s. §§6-7 (159-172 [160-173], 203-208 [205-210])

Section XIII

What grounds does Kuhn give for saying that we take progress as a criterion for considering a discipline to be a science (pp. 159-161 [160-162])?

Why is the activity of normal science bound to appear as progress (pp. 161-162 [162-163])?

What features of normal science will tend to lead to progress?—and progress of what sort (pp. 162-165 [163-166])?

What common characteristics does Kuhn find in scientific communities (pp. 165-168 [166-169])?

Why will a change of paradigms seem to be progress?—and in what respects will it really be progress (pp. 168-169 [169-170])?

In what ways does Kuhn compare scientific progress to Darwinian evolution (pp. 169-172 [170-173])?

Postscript §6

In what respects is Kuhn willing to grant that his view of science is a kind of relativism (p. 205 [pp. 203-204])?

What grounds does he give for holding that it is not mere relativism (pp. 204-205 [205-207])?

Postscript §7

In what way does Kuhn say he has used descriptions of what science is as evidence for what it ought to be (pp. 206-207 [207-208])?

In what ways does Kuhn grant that the history of science is similar to the history of other disciplines (p. 207 [pp. 208-209])?

What does Kuhn cite as distinguishing features of science (pp. 207-208 [209-210])?