Philosophy 303 - Principles of Inquiry: Ways of Knowing

Assignment for March 29

Topic: Assessing Kuhn’s challenge and the views of his critics

The Famous Duck-Rabbit Young/Old Woman

Reading :

1. Steven Weinberg, “On Scientific Revolutions” The New York Review of Books,
October 8, 1998, available on line at http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/vl/notes/weinberg.html

2. T. S. Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Postscript (pp. 174-210)

Note: I will almost certainly be sending you suggestions for further reading in an email. Look for it.

Study Questions:

1. According to physicist Steven Weinberg, Kuhn’s view of science is “wormwood to scientists such as myself” and, if it were true, science would lose its point. How so?

2. Weinberg also thinks that Kuhn’s view of science is (fortunately) false. What reasons does he give for thinking so? How persuasive are those reasons in your view? (Explain.)

3. In the Postscript to his book Kuhn tries to clarify his position and answer some of his critics. Especially in sections 5 and 6 (pp. 198-207) he tries to answer charges that his position is relativist or that it makes science an irrational enterprise. Based on what he says there, do you think it is unfair to label him a relativist? (Explain.) Do you think Kuhn succeeds in giving a coherent account of how scientists come to accept a new paradigm? (Explain.)