For Kuhn, textbook science is both a misleading rational reconstruction and an actual driver of normal science. Ludwik Fleck’s account of how textbooks stabilize scientific collectives illuminates the latter. Auguste Comte’s distinction between the theoretical method of instruction, which presents science ahistorically as a system of rational conclusions, and the historical method of instruction, which presents science as a series of effects, illuminate the former. Current STEM textbooks still employ the theoretical method, which obscures the role of historical accident when theory choice is underdetermined by rules. Kuhn and his mentor James B. Conant, in contrast, promote a case study approach. In our new learner-centered educational paradigm, we will need a new textbook science, one that leaves actual books behind.

During his PhD and afterward, Kuhn was close to heated debates concerning the creation of the National Science Foundation. These debates were wide-ranging, touching upon topics such as the value of “basic science,” the obligations of scientific institutions, and the status of the social sciences. Kuhn was involved via his mentor, James Conant, who was one of the most prominent voices in these debates. In Kuhn’s later writings, he gestures toward this intellectual context as influential in the early days of composing The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. This chapter takes a close look at Kuhn’s involvement and exposure to debates about science funding policy and their influence on the composition of Structure.

I examine Kuhn's Aristotle epiphany, which set him on the course to writing SSR. He learned to see that earlier scientific theories are fundamentally different than the theories that replace them.

This chapter examines the influence of the history of chemistry on Kuhn's thinking as he wrote SSR. Many of the examples he draws on in the book come from the history of chemistry.

This chapter examines the influence of Conant on Kuhn's thinking about science. I identify five key elements that Kuhn did not get from Conant, including the notions of normal science and paradigm.

This chapter examimes Kuhn's background. It explains that Kuhn had quite exceptional experiences at Harvard as a student, and early in his career. He was interacting with other accomplished people.