World changes

Thomas Kuhn is perhaps the most widely known and influential philosopher of science of our time. His book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions called into question such central notions of scientific method as the concept of absolute truth, the observation/theory distinction, the determinate rationality of theory choice, and the normative function of philosophy of science. It replaced these with a historically more accurate model of scientific change. Kuhn's critique turned several fields upside down and continues to be read and debated not only by philosophers and historians of science but also by many practicing scientists. Inspired by his contributions, these twelve original essays address central aspects of Kuhn's thought. Most of the essays are philosophical, four are primarily historical, and one, by Kuhn himself, responds to issues raised in the other essays. Paul Horwich is Professor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the author of Probability and Evidence, Asymmetries in Time, and Truth. The essays: Introduction, Paul Horwich. Thomas Kuhn, Colleague and Friend, C.G. Hempel. Carnap, Kuhn, and the Philosophy of Scientific Methodology, John Earman. Remarks on the History of Science and the History of Philosophy, Michael Friedman. Rationality and Paradigm Change in Science, Ernan McMullin. A Mathematicians' Mutiny, with Morals, J. L. Heilbron. Science and Humanism in the Renaissance: Regiomontanus's Oration on the Dignity and Utility of the Mathematical Sciences, N. M. Swerdlow. Design for Experimenting, Jed Z. Buchwald. Mediations: Enlightenment Balancing Acts, or the Technologies of Rationalism, M. Norton Wise. How We Relate Theory to Observation, Nancy Cartwright. Working in a New World. The Taxonomic Solution, Ian Hacking. Afterwords, Thomas Kuhn. A Bradford Book