A Brief Diversion

CSGnet Archive CSG2004
1

[From Fred Nickols (2004.12.19.1934 EST)] --

This is one of the better-educated lists to which I belong. Having
complimented y'all, allow me a brief and irrelevant diversion.

Thomas Kuhn, famous for his book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions,
supposedly recanted his position in the wake of what has been termed a
"firestorm response" from the scientific community. I've been told by
someone whom I respect, that Kuhn recanted under pressure, much as
Copernicus recanted his heliocentric views under pressure from the Catholic
church.

Does anyone on this list know of any credible evidence that Kuhn was
pressured into recanting his position?

Regards,

Fred Nickols, CPT
Senior Consultant
Distance Consulting
"Assistance at A Distance"
nickols@att.net
www.nickols.us

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[From Bruce Gregory (2004.1220.0931)]

Fred Nickols (2004.12.19.1934 EST)

Does anyone on this list know of any credible evidence that Kuhn was
pressured into recanting his position?

Insofar as know, Kuhn never recanted anything. He did disown the term
"paradigm shift" as having been a distortion of what he said, which
rested on the development of new instrumentation that enabled new
questions to be asked and answered. Paradigm shift has come to mean
something like change in worldview no matter the extent or reason. They
seem to happen with great regularity and little impact.

The enemy of truth is not error. The enemy of truth is certainty.