Book contents
- Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions at 60
- Cambridge Philosophical Anniversaries
- Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions at 60
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I Writing Structure
- Part II Normal Science and Science Education
- Part III Incommensurability, Progress, and Revolutions
- 7 Kuhn on Translation
- 8 Paradigm Shifts and Group Belief Change
- 9 The Puzzle of Promise, aka “Kuhn’s Problem”
- 10 The Orwellian Dimension of Scientific Progress
- 11 Essential Tensions in Twenty-First-Century Science
- Part IV Kuhn’s Impact on the Philosophy, Sociology, and History of Science
- Bibliography
- Index
7 - Kuhn on Translation
from Part III - Incommensurability, Progress, and Revolutions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 January 2024
- Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions at 60
- Cambridge Philosophical Anniversaries
- Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions at 60
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I Writing Structure
- Part II Normal Science and Science Education
- Part III Incommensurability, Progress, and Revolutions
- 7 Kuhn on Translation
- 8 Paradigm Shifts and Group Belief Change
- 9 The Puzzle of Promise, aka “Kuhn’s Problem”
- 10 The Orwellian Dimension of Scientific Progress
- 11 Essential Tensions in Twenty-First-Century Science
- Part IV Kuhn’s Impact on the Philosophy, Sociology, and History of Science
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This chapter offers a reading of a metaphor developed by Kuhn in the late 1960s and 1970s, most famously articulated in the Postscript to the second edition of Structure: to work through a revolutionary rupture, scientists on either side of the divide recognize each other as belonging to different language communities, and work to become translators. This chapter argues that not only has this metaphor been misunderstood, but its potential significance both for a Kuhnian view of scientific change and for the account of scientific communication that comes with it has been neglected. The process of becoming a translator poses challenges to the scientist commensurate with the duty of the translator not to transfer meaning, but to create it.
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- Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions at 60 , pp. 137 - 146Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024