Kuhn vs Popper - About James H. Collier

work for that purpose. Case in point is JeromeRavetz, author of the most systematic attempt todevelop a critical theory out of Kuhn’s theory ofscience: Scientific Knowledge and Its Social Problems,published by Oxford University Press in 1971.Ravetz, an American expatriate who helped tospearhead the British Society for Social Responsibilityin Science in the 1970s, corresponded withKuhn for three decades, initially over theircommon interest in the Copernican Revolution.However, as time went on, Kuhn becameincreasingly uncomfortable with Ravetz’s politicalinterests and activities, though Ravetz continued tocall upon Kuhn for advice and letters of recommendation.For example, in a letter to Ravetz (21June 1972), Kuhn claimed not to like the finalhundred pages of Ravetz’s book, in which heenunciates a programme for ‘critical science’, alignedwith Barry Commoner’s ecology movement.Today, Ravetz’s critical science is notable for itspioneering discussion of research ethics andintellectual property. Yet, five years after expressinghis misgivings, Kuhn wrote, unbeknownst toRavetz, against hiring him as professor in historyand sociology of science at the University ofPennsylvania on the grounds that Ravetz had leftscholarship behind for politics (letter to ArnoldThackray, 7 April 1977).212