Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 42 (2):362–371 (2011)
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Abstract |
At first glance there seem to be many similarities between Thomas S. Kuhn’s and Ludwik Fleck’s accounts of the development of scientific knowledge. Notably, both pay attention to the role played by the scientific
community in the development of scientific knowledge. But putting first impressions aside, one can criticise some philosophers for being too hasty in their attempt to find supposed similarities in the works of the two men. Having acknowledged that Fleck anticipated some of Kuhn’s later theses, there seems to be a temptation in more recent research to equate both theories in important respects. Because of this approach, one has to deal with the problem of comparing the most notable technical terms of both philosophers, namely ‘‘thought style’’ and ‘‘paradigm’’.
This paper aims at a more thorough comparison between Ludwik Fleck’s concept of thought style and Thomas Kuhn’s concept of paradigm. Although some philosophers suggest that these two concepts are essentially equal in content, a closer examination reveals that this is not the case. This thesis of inequality will be defended in detail, also taking into account some of the alleged similarities which may be responsible for losing sight of the differences between these theories.
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Keywords | Paradigm Thought style Ludwik Fleck Thomas S. Kuhn |
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DOI | 10.1016/j.shpsa.2011.02.001 |
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References found in this work BETA
Knowledge in a Social World.Alvin I. Goldman - 2002 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 64 (1):185-190.
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Citations of this work BETA
The Philosophical Works of Ludwik Fleck and Their Potential Meaning for Teaching and Learning Science.Ingo Eilks, Avi Hofstein, Rachel Mamlok-Naaman, Peter Heering & Marc Stuckey - 2015 - Science & Education 24 (3):281-298.
Styles of Thought on the Continental Drift Debate.Pablo A. Pellegrini - 2019 - Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 50 (1):85-102.
When Viruses Were Not in Style: Parallels in the Histories of Chicken Sarcoma Viruses and Bacteriophages.Neeraja Sankaran - 2014 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 48:189-199.
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