Kuhn vs Popper - About James H. Collier

extended encyclopaedia entry, as the book was infact originally conceived.Structure’s thirteen chapters roughly track thephases of a science’s life cycle, starting with itsdivisive pre-scientific roots in metaphysics, religionand politics. For Kuhn, science begins in earnestwith the adoption of a ‘paradigm’, which meansboth an exemplary piece of research and theblueprint it provides for future research. In securinga paradigm, researchers agree to a common patternof work and common standards for adjudicatingtheir knowledge claims. Most actual science – whatKuhn calls ‘normal science’ – consists of little morethan the technical work of fleshing out theparadigm’s blueprint. Kuhn deliberately selects thephrase ‘puzzle-solving’ (as in crossword puzzles)over ‘problem-solving’ to underscore the constrainednature of normal science. Thus, theGalilean image of the scientist as the heroic breakerof tradition is almost a complete myth, as far asKuhn is concerned. Most scientists are narrowlytrained specialists who try to work entirely withintheir paradigm until too many unsolved puzzlesaccumulate. Once the number of such ‘anomalies’has reached a certain threshold, the paradigm is in‘crisis’, and only then do scientists legitimatelyengage in wide-ranging normative discussions aboutthe future direction of their field. A ‘revolution’19