Kuhn vs Popper - About James H. Collier

case through acquaintance with church doctrine.A dialectic of dogma and heresy has thuscharacterised the history of Christianity. A majorstep in the secularisation of this dialectic came withthe shift in the anchor point for ‘probability’ in the17th century from established collective authority(dogma) to risky individual belief (heresy). Thus,the ‘improbable’ metamorphosed from doctrinaldeviance to indefensible assertion. Both Kuhn andPopper drew on this history. Kuhn originallypresented the inherent resistance of scientificparadigms to fundamental criticism under therubric of ‘dogma’, and Popper frequently castcriticism in science as a risky personal choice madeagainst the prevailing tide of collective opinion.In defence of the view that evidence compelsbelief, epistemologists still cite the 1,500-year-oldprecedent of Saint Augustine (354–430), CatholicBishop of Hippo, who refuted the Greek sceptics byclaiming that some beliefs are self-evidently truebecause one would not have such beliefs unlesstheir putative objects had caused them. Self-evidentbeliefs compel assent regardless of the other beliefsone holds. Thus, episodes of religious conversionand scientific discovery typically involve manifestationsthat upset one’s expectations and intentions.However, since conversions and discoveries are normallyportrayed as positive moments in cognitive113