{"title":"Thomas S. Kuhn","description":"\u003cp\u003eThomas S. Kuhn’s works explore the philosophy and history of science, challenging traditional views on how scientific progress unfolds. His influential texts, including \u003cem\u003eThe Structure of Scientific Revolutions\u003c\/em\u003e, delve into paradigm shifts and the evolving nature of scientific understanding.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eReaders interested in the critical examination of scientific ideas and their development will find Kuhn’s writings both thought-provoking and essential. These books invite reflection on the complex processes behind knowledge and discovery within the world of science.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"the-structure-of-scientific-revolutions","title":"The Structure of Scientific Revolutions","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Structure of Scientific Revolutions\u003c\/i\u003e by Thomas S. Kuhn, with a contemporary introduction by Ian Hacking, is a seminal work that forever changed our understanding of how scientific progress occurs. Originally published in 1962, this profound book challenges the notion of science as a straightforward, incremental process of accumulation. Instead, Kuhn posits that significant scientific breakthroughs emerge not through gradual developments within the established framework of 'normal science', but through revolutionary shifts in paradigms—those intellectual upheavals that redefine and reshape our existing understanding of the world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eKuhn's revolutionary idea introduced the concept of 'paradigm shifts', which occur when anomalies in scientific data accumulate to the point where the prevailing framework can no longer accommodate them. These shifts do not simply amount to new theories replacing old ones, but rather involve a transformation that alters the fundamental perspective and methodology of science itself. Such paradigm changes disrupt and revise our everyday reality, highlighting the non-linear nature of scientific evolution.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEven today, Kuhn’s insights hold remarkable relevance, especially as new scientific fields like biotechnology challenge existing norms, echoing the kinds of shifts he described. The book’s ongoing influence is evident across many scientific and academic disciplines, sparking debate and inspiring subsequent studies in the humanities and social sciences as well.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis redesigned edition includes a thoughtful introduction by philosopher Ian Hacking, who adeptly contextualises Kuhn’s ideas for modern readers. Hacking elucidates key terms such as 'paradigm' and 'incommensurability', offering clarity and contemporary relevance to Kuhn's original concepts. The introduction is strategically aligned with the book's sections, providing both historical background and insight into its ongoing applicability, making it an invaluable resource for scholars and enthusiasts alike.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAdditionally, the edition features a newly expanded index, enhancing its utility for academic research and ensuring it remains a crucial resource for those eager to understand the dynamics of scientific inquiry and the nature of transformative scientific change.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"John Wiley and Sons Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45799077445868,"sku":"9780226458120","price":36.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780226458120.jpg?v=1728226187"},{"product_id":"the-last-writings-of-thomas-s-kuhn-by-thomas-s-kuhn-9780226822747","title":"The Last Writings of Thomas S. Kuhn","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA must-read follow-up to \u003ci\u003eThe Structure of Scientific Revolutions\u003c\/i\u003e, one of the most important books of the twentieth century.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis book contains the text of Thomas S. Kuhn’s unfinished book, \u003ci\u003eThe Plurality of Worlds: An Evolutionary Theory of Scientific Development\u003c\/i\u003e, which Kuhn himself described as “a return to the central claims of \u003ci\u003eThe Structure of Scientific Revolutions\u003c\/i\u003e, and the problems that it raised but did not resolve.” \u003ci\u003eThe Plurality of Worlds\u003c\/i\u003e is preceded by two related texts that Kuhn publicly delivered but never published in English: his paper “Scientific Knowledge as a Historical Product” and his Shearman Memorial Lectures, “The Presence of Past Science.” An introduction by the editor describes the origins and structure of \u003ci\u003eThe Plurality of Worlds\u003c\/i\u003e and sheds light on its central philosophical problems.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eKuhn’s aims in his last writings are bold. He sets out to develop an empirically grounded theory of meaning that would allow him to make sense of both the possibility of historical understanding and the inevitability of incommensurability between past and present science. In his view, incommensurability is fully compatible with a robust notion of the real world that science investigates, the rationality of scientific change, and the idea that scientific development is progressive.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46855013236972,"sku":"9780226822747","price":52.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780226822747.jpg?v=1759260918"},{"product_id":"the-structure-of-scientific-revolutions-50th-anniversary-edition-by-thomas-s-kuhn-9780226458113","title":"The Structure of Scientific Revolutions – 50th Anniversary Edition","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA good book may have the power to change the way we see the world, but a great book actually becomes part of our daily consciousness, pervading our thinking to the point that we take it for granted, and we forget how provocative and challenging its ideas once were—and still are. \u003ci\u003eThe Structure of Scientific Revolutions\u003c\/i\u003e is that kind of book. When it was first published in 1962, it was a landmark event in the history and philosophy of science. Fifty years later, it still has many lessons to teach.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith \u003ci\u003eThe Structure of Scientific Revolutions\u003c\/i\u003e, Kuhn challenged long-standing linear notions of scientific progress, arguing that transformative ideas don’t arise from the day-to-day, gradual process of experimentation and data accumulation but that the revolutions in science, those breakthrough moments that disrupt accepted thinking and offer unanticipated ideas, occur outside of “normal science,” as he called it. Though Kuhn was writing when physics ruled the sciences, his ideas on how scientific revolutions bring order to the anomalies that amass over time in research experiments are still instructive in our biotech age.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis new edition of Kuhn’s essential work in the history of science includes an insightful introduction by Ian Hacking, which clarifies terms popularised by Kuhn, including paradigm and incommensurability, and applies Kuhn’s ideas to the science of today. Usefully keyed to the separate sections of the book, Hacking’s introduction provides important background information as well as a contemporary context. Newly designed, with an expanded index, this edition will be eagerly welcomed by the next generation of readers seeking to understand the history of our perspectives on science.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47401896313068,"sku":"9780226458113","price":112.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/71zvaZtbm7L._SL1500.jpg?v=1773802668"},{"product_id":"the-last-writings-of-thomas-s-kuhn-by-thomas-s-kuhn-9780226833316","title":"The Last Writings of Thomas S. Kuhn","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA must-read follow-up to \u003cem\u003eThe Structure of Scientific Revolutions\u003c\/em\u003e, one of the most important books of the twentieth century.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis book contains the text of Thomas S. Kuhn's unfinished book, \u003cem\u003eThe Plurality of Worlds: An Evolutionary Theory of Scientific Development\u003c\/em\u003e, which Kuhn himself described as a return to the central claims of \u003cem\u003eThe Structure of Scientific Revolutions\u003c\/em\u003e and the problems that it raised but did not resolve. \u003cem\u003eThe Plurality of Worlds\u003c\/em\u003e is preceded by two related texts that Kuhn publicly delivered but never published in English: his paper \"Scientific Knowledge as Historical Product\" and his Shearman Memorial Lectures, \"The Presence of Past Science.\" An introduction by the editor describes the origins and structure of \u003cem\u003eThe Plurality of Worlds\u003c\/em\u003e and sheds light on its central philosophical problems.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eKuhn's aims in his last writings are bold. He sets out to develop an empirically grounded theory of meaning that would allow him to make sense of both the possibility of historical understanding and the inevitability of incommensurability between past and present science. In his view, incommensurability is fully compatible with a robust notion of the real world that science investigates, the rationality of scientific change, and the idea that scientific development is progressive.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47455782732012,"sku":"9780226833316","price":35.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/81c1E-S6wtL._SL1500.jpg?v=1774798335"},{"product_id":"the-copernican-revolution-by-thomas-s-kuhn-9780674171039","title":"The Copernican Revolution","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor scientists and laymen alike, this book provides vivid evidence that the Copernican Revolution has by no means lost its significance today. Few episodes in the development of scientific theory show so clearly how the solution to a highly technical problem can alter our basic thought processes and attitudes. Understanding the processes which underlay the Revolution gives us a perspective, in this scientific age, from which to evaluate our own beliefs more intelligently.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith a constant keen awareness of the inseparable mixture of its technical, philosophical, and humanistic elements, Thomas S. Kuhn displays the full scope of the Copernican Revolution as simultaneously an episode in the internal development of astronomy, a critical turning point in the evolution of scientific thought, and a crisis in Western man's concept of his relation to the universe and to God.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe book begins with a description of the first scientific cosmology developed by the Greeks. Mr. Kuhn thus prepares the way for a continuing analysis of the relation between theory and observation and belief. He describes the many functions—astronomical, scientific, and nonscientific—of the Greek concept of the universe, concentrating especially on the religious implications. He then treats the intellectual, social, and economic developments which nurtured Copernicus' break with traditional astronomy. Although many of these developments, including scholastic criticism of Aristotle's theory of motion and the Renaissance revival of Neoplatonism, lie entirely outside of astronomy, they increased the flexibility of the astronomer's imagination. That new flexibility is apparent in the work of Copernicus, whose \u003ci\u003eDe Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium\u003c\/i\u003e (\u003ci\u003eOn the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres\u003c\/i\u003e) is discussed in detail both for its own significance and as a representative scientific innovation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith a final analysis of Copernicus' life work—its reception and its contribution to a new scientific concept of the universe—Mr. Kuhn illuminates both the researches that finally made the heliocentric arrangement work, and the achievements in physics and metaphysics that made the planetary earth an integral part of Newtonian science. These are the developments that once again provided man with a coherent and self-consistent conception of the universe and of his own place in it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a book for any reader interested in the evolution of ideas and, in particular, in the curious interplay of hypothesis and experiment which is the essence of modern science. Says James Bryant Conant in his Foreword: \"Professor Kuhn's handling of the subject merits attention, for he points the way to the road which must be followed if science is to be assimilated into the culture of our times.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47995588182252,"sku":"9780674171039","price":66.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780674171039-the-copernican-revolution.jpg?v=1784898275"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.pro\/collections\/thomas-s-kuhn.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}