Kuhn vs Popper - About James H. Collier

egan in the Weimar Republic as a by-product ofthe general disillusionment with natural scienceafter Germany’s defeat in World War I. A wartriggered by diplomatic mishap that was ultimatelylost by the scientifically most advanced nationcaused many to question humanity’s control of itsfate. Adorno caught a second wave of thissentiment during his stay in Los Angeles early inthe Cold War, when many Americans turned toastrology to ‘cope’ with what was felt to be aninevitable nuclear showdown. At one level, thecritical perspective shared by Popper and Adornoupdates the original theological objection toastrology: astrology locates the causes of humanbehaviour in celestial phenomena so far removedfrom one’s ordinary sphere of action that it discouragespeople not only from acting decisively but alsofrom taking responsibility for whatever they do.However, the specifically modern cast of thePopper–Adorno objection to astrology is that itprovides a spurious unity of understanding in aworld of hyper-specialisation, something thatKuhn himself regarded as simply inevitable. Insteadof trying to resolve the deep-seated tensions betweendisciplinary practices that currently impedeany global understanding, astrology purports totranscend these interdisciplinary tensions – and theconflicting cognitive standards associated with163