Thomas Samuel Kuhn (1922 – 1996) was an American historian and philosopher of science, trained intitailly as a physicist, and highly influential on the sociology of science.
Kuhn was famous for describing science as being 'normal' or 'revolutionary', and scientists working in small disciplinary matrices (sharing commitments and practices) into which they are inducted by the standard paradigms/exemplars in that specialist field. He was criticised for exaggerating the revolutionary nature of scientific progress, presenting a model of science that was seen relativist (as if offers no neutral objective ground for comparingcompeting 'paradigms'), and for over-emphasising the 'incommensurability' of competing paradigms, and so the challenge for researchers in different paradigms to engage in productive dialogue.
Kuhnian – relating to Thomas Kuhn: physicist-cum-historian-cum-sociologist/philosopher of science
[Please be aware that a word may have different nuances, or even a different meaning, according to context.]« Back to Index
