Abstract
Kuhn’s latest account locates incommensurability as a mismatch between taxonomies of natural kind terms. In collaboration with Hanne Andersen (University of Copenhagen) and Xiang Chen (California Lutheran University) I have developed a more general account along the same lines using the dynamic frame notation introduced by cognitive psychologist Lawrence Barsalou (Emory University, Atlanta). Here I apply a simplified version of this model to the conceptual systems of Ptolemaic, Copernican and Keplerian astronomy. I conclude that Copernicus’s astronomy is only minimally incommensurable with Ptolemy’s, but that Kepler’s is strongly incommensurable with both.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Primary Sources
Amico, Giovanni Battista. (1536). De motibus corporum coelestium, Venice.
Apianus, Petrus. (1540). Cosmographia, Antwerp.
Brahe, Tycho (1588) De mundi aetherii recentioribus phaenomenis, Uraniborg.
Copernicus, Nicolaus. (1543). De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium, Nuremberg.
Fracastoro, Girolamo. (1538). Homocentrica, Venice.
Kepler, Ioannes. (1596). Mysterium Cosmographicum, Tübingen.
Kepler, Ioannes. (1609). Astronomia Nova, Prague.
Maestlin, Michael. (1578). Observatio et demonstratio cometae aetherei, qui in anno 1577 et 1578 constitutus in sphaera Veneris, apparuit, Tübingen.
Reinhold, Erasmus. (1542). Theoricae novae planetarum. Wittenberg.
Secondary Sources
Andersen, H. (1996). “Categorization, Anomalies and the Discovery of Nuclear Fission.” Studies in the History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 27: 463–492.
Andersen, H., X. Chen and P. Barker. (1996). “Kuhn’s Mature Philosophy of Science and Cognitive Psychology.” Philosophical Psychology 9: 347–363.
Barker, P. (1990). “Copernicus, the Orbs and the Equant.” In R. Ariew and P. Barker, eds., Pierre Duhem: Historian and Philosopher of Science, Synthese 83: 317–323.
Barker, P. (1993). “The Optical Theory of Comets from Apian to Kepler.” Physis 30: 1–25.
Barker, P. (1997). “Kepler’s Epistemology.” In C. Methuen, D. Liscia and E. Kessler, eds., Method and Order in Renaissance Natural Philosophy, pp. 355–68, New York: Kluwer.
Barker, P. (1999). “Copernicus and the Critics of Ptolemy.” Journal for the History of Astronomy 30: 343–358.
Barker, P. (2000). “The Role of Religion in the Lutheran Response to Copernicus.” In M. Osler, ed., Rethinking the Scientific Revolution, pp. 59–88, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Barker, P. (forthcoming-a). “Brahe and Rothmann on Atmospheric Refraction.” In R. Halleux, ed., Proceedings of the XXth International Congress of History of Science. Turnhout: Brepols (1998 – 2000).
Barker, P. (forthcoming-b). “Stoic Alternatives to Aristotelian Cosmology: Pena and Rothmann.” Revue d’Histoire des Sciences.
Barker, P. and B. Goldstein. (1988). “The Role of Comets in the Copernican Revolution.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 19: 299–319.
Barker, P. and B. Goldstein. (1994). “Distance and velocity in Kepler’s astronomy.” Annals of Science 51: 59–73.
Barker, P. and B. Goldstein, R. Bernard (1998). “Realism and Instrumental ism in Sixteenth Century Astronomy: A Reappraisal.” Perspectives on Science 6: 232–258.
Barker, P. and Goldstein, R. Bernard R. (2001). “Theological Foundations of Kepler’s Astronomy.” In J. Brooke, M. Osler and J. van der Meer, eds., Osiris 16: Forthcoming.
Barsalou, L. (1992). “Frames, Concepts, and Conceptual Fields.” In A. Lehrer and E. Kittay, eds., Frames, Fields and Contrasts: New essays in semantical and lexical organization, pp. 21–74, Hillsdale: Erlbaum.
Barsalou, L. and Hale, C. (1993). “Components of Conceptual Representation: From Feature-Lists to Recursive Frames.” In I. Mechelen, J. Hampton, R. Michalski, and P. Theuns, eds., Categories and Concepts: Theoretical views and inductive data analysis, pp. 97–144, New York: Academic Press.
Bloor, D. (1991). Knowledge and Social Imagery. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
di Bono, M. (1995). “Copernicus, Amico, Fracastoro and Tusi’s device: Observations on the use and transmission of a model.” Journal for the History of Astronomy 26: 133–154.
Chen, X., H. Andersen and P. Barker. (1998). “Kuhn’s Theory of Scientific Revolutions and Cognitive Psychology.” Philosophical Psychology 11: 5–28.
Chen, X., H. Andersen and P. Barker. (2000). “Continuity Through Revolutions: A frame-based account of conceptual change.” Philosophy of Science (Proceedings) 67: forthcoming.
Donahue, W. (1988). “Kepler’s Fabricated Figures: Covering Up the Mess in the New Astronomy.” Journal for the History of Astronomy 19: 217–237.
Gingerich, O. (1975). “‘Crisis’ versus Aesthetic in the Copernican Revolution.” In A. Beer, ed., Vistas in Astronomy, vol. 17, pp. 85–94, Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Gholson, B., P. Barker. (1985). “Kuhn, Lakatos and Laudan: Applications to the History of Physics and Psychology.” American Psychologist 40: 755–769.
Goldstein, B. (1967). The Arabic Version of Ptolemy’s Planetary Hypotheses. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 57: Pt. 4.
Goldstein, B. (1991). “The Blasphemy of Alfonso X: History or Myth?” In P. Barker and R. Ariew, eds., Revolution and Continuity: Essays in the History and Philosophy of Early Modern Science, pp. 143–153, Washington: Catholic University of America Press.
Goldstein, Bernard R. and Barker, P. (1995). “The Role of Rothmann in the Dissolution of the Celestial Spheres.” British Journal for the History of Science 28: 385–403.
Hoyningen-Huene, P. (1993). Reconstructing Scientific Revolutions: Thomas S. Kuhn’s Philosophy of Science. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Kuhn, T. (1957). The Copernican Revolution: Planetary Astronomy in Western Thought. Harvard: Harvard University Press.
Kuhn, T. (1962). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: Chicago University Press. 2nd edition with Postscript, 1970.
Kuhn, T. (1990a). “An Historian’s Theory of Meaning.” Talk to Cognitive Science Colloquium. UCLA (unpublished manuscript).
Kuhn, T. (1990b). “Dubbing and Redubbing: The Vulnerability of Rigid Designation.” In C. Savage, ed., Scientific Theory, pp.298–318, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Kuhn, T. (1991). “The road Since Structure.” In A. Fine, M. Forbes, and L. Wessels, eds., PSA 1990, Volume 2, pp. 3–13, East Lansing: Philosophy of Science Association.
Kuhn, T. (1993). “Afterwords.” In P. Horwich, ed., World Changes, pp. 311–341, Cambridge: MIT Press.
Lakatos, I. (1977). The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lattis, J. (1994). Between Copernicus and Galileo: Christopher Clavius and the Collapse of Ptolemaic Astronomy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Stevenson, B. (1994). Kepler’s Physical Astronomy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Swerdlow, N. (1976). “Pseudodoxia Copernicana.” Archives Internationales d’Histoire des Sciences 26: 105–158.
Swerdlow, N. and O. Neugebauer. (1984). Mathematical Astronomy in Copernicus’s De Revolutionibus, 2 volumes. Berlin: Springer.
Van Helden, A. (1985). Measuring the Universe. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Westman, R. (1974). “The Melanchthon Circle, Rheticus and the Wittenberg Interpretation of the Copernican Theory.” Isis 85: 79–115.
Westman, R. (1994). “Two Cultures or One? A Second Look at Kuhn’s The Copernican Revolution” Isis 85:79–115.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2001 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Barker, P. (2001). Incommensurability and Conceptual Change during the Copernican Revolution. In: Hoyningen-Huene, P., Sankey, H. (eds) Incommensurability and Related Matters. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 216. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9680-0_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9680-0_10
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-5709-9
Online ISBN: 978-94-015-9680-0
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive