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Kuhn’s Legacy: Theoretical and Philosophical Study of History

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Abstract

This paper considers the legacy of Kuhn and his Structure with regard to the current history and philosophy of science. Kuhn can be seen as a myth breaker, whose contribution is the way he connected historical and philosophical studies of science, questioning the cumulativist image and demanding historical responsibility of the views of science. I build on Kuhn’s legacy and outline a suggestion for theoretical and philosophical study of history (of science), which can be subdivided into three categories. The first is the philosophical analysis of historical interpretation and its relation to the historical record. The second is ‘theoretical history’ in which one tries to infer philosophically relevant interpretations on the nature of science on the basis of historical evidence. The third is the conceptual reflection of the assumptions and implications of the contemporary historiography of science. At the end I suggest that theoretical and philosophical study of history offers a fresh way to make history and philosophy relevant to each other.

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Notes

  1. Finally established in 1965 through the publication of the proceedings from the Bedford Colloquium. See Lakatos and Musgrave (1965).

  2. We had to wait until 1993 for the first one to appear (Hoyningen-Huene). Since then there has been a steady flow of them: Bird (2000), Fuller (2000), Andersen (2001), Sharrock and Read (2002), Marcum (2005), Gattei (2008), Kuukkanen (2008), Read and Summers (2012; half of the book devoted to Kuhn). The list is not exhaustive.

  3. International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science.

  4. This is not to claim that the debate on cumulativity has extinguished. Indeed, there are some fresh openings, but we can see Kuhn’s influence even in those. They are just more sophisticated, trying to rely on the continuity of structures or other abstracted theory components that are seen to cumulate. See for example, Psillos (2005), French (2006) and Bird (2007).

  5. For more on narrativism, see Ankersmit (1983, 2001); White (1973, 1987).

  6. The project runs from 2008-2012 and the description can be found at http://www.hum.leiden.edu/philosophy/research/philosophical-foundations/general-project-description/description.html. Some of its publications so far are: Karstens (2011, 2012); Kuukkanen (2011, 2012b, 2012c). See also an earlier investigation by McAllister (1996) in theoretical history that question’s Kuhn’s account of theory change and specifically the primacy of aesthetic over empirical factors in triggering scientific revolutions.

  7. Jardine’s “Philosophy of History of Science” (2008) is one of the very few papers that consider directly what this field could be.

  8. One of the most interesting is Hasok Chang’s (2007) idea of complementary science.

  9. Just think how alien the discussion on the circulation of science (e.g. Ophir and Shapin 1991; Secord 2004) is for philosophers of science.

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Acknowledgments

This paper has been written with the financial support of The Emil Aaltonen Foundation.

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  1. Jouni-Matti Kuukkanen

    Present address: Institute for Philosophy, Matthias de Vrieshof 4, P.O. Box 9515, 2300, RA, Leiden, The Netherlands

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  1. Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Jouni-Matti Kuukkanen

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Kuukkanen, JM. Kuhn’s Legacy: Theoretical and Philosophical Study of History. Topoi 32, 91–99 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-012-9141-z

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