Article ID: CBB470924164

‘Working in a New World’: Kuhn, Constructivism, and Mind-Dependence (2015)

unapi

In The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Kuhn famously advanced the claim that scientists work in a different world after a scientific revolution. Kuhn's view has been at the center of a philosophical literature that has tried to make sense of his bold claim, by listing Kuhn's view in good company with other seemingly constructivist proposals. The purpose of this paper is to take some steps towards clarifying what sort of constructivism (if any) is in fact at stake in Kuhn's view. To this end, I distinguish between two main (albeit not exclusive) notions of mind-dependence: a semantic notion and an ontological one. I point out that Kuhn's view should be understood as subscribing to a form of semantic mind-dependence, and conclude that semantic mind-dependence does not land us into any worrisome ontological mind-dependence, pace any constructivist reading of Kuhn.

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Article Theodore Arabatzis; Don Howard (2015) Introduction: Integrated History and Philosophy of Science in Practice. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science (pp. 1-3). unapi

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Authors & Contributors
Dear, Peter Robert
Mizrahi, Moti
Zhang, Meifang
Wray, K. Brad
Wegener, Daan
Solomon, Stephanie
Concepts
Philosophy of science
Social construction; constructivism
Science studies, theoretical works
Revolutions in science
Historiography
History of philosophy of science
Time Periods
20th century, late
21st century
20th century
20th century, early
19th century
17th century
Places
East Asia
United States
Japan
China
Taiwan
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