Article ID: CBB001021669

A Different Kind of Revolutionary Change: Transformation from Object to Process Concepts (2010)

unapi

I propose a new perspective with which to understand scientific revolutions. This is a conversion from an object-only perspective to one that properly treats object and process concepts as distinct kinds. I begin with a re-examination of the Copernican revolution. Recent findings from the history of astronomy suggest that the Copernican revolution was a move from a conceptual framework built around an object concept to one built around a process concept. Drawing from studies in the cognitive sciences, I then show that process concepts are independent of object concepts, grounded in specific regions of the brain and involving unique representational mechanisms. There are cognitive obstacles to the transformation from object to process concepts, and an object bias---a tendency to treat processes as objects---makes this kind of conceptual change difficult. Consequently, transformation from object to process concepts is disruptive and revolutionary. Finally, I explore the implications of this new perspective on scientific revolutions for both the history and philosophy of science.

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Description Uses the Copernican revolution as a case study of how to understand scientific revolutions.


Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001021669/

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Authors & Contributors
Timberlake, Todd
Wallace, Paul
Jacoby, Franklin
Howard, Stephen
Parsons, Keith M.
Weinert, Friedel
Concepts
Revolutions in science
Philosophy of science
Copernicanism
Cosmology
Astronomy
Historical method
Time Periods
17th century
Early modern
Renaissance
16th century
Medieval
21st century
Places
Mediterranean region
Europe
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