The Orwellian Dimension of Scientific Progress: from Part III - Incommensurability, Progress, and Revolutions

TY - CHAP

T1 - The Orwellian Dimension of Scientific Progress

T2 - from Part III - Incommensurability, Progress, and Revolutions

AU - Wray, K. Brad

PY - 2024/1

Y1 - 2024/1

N2 - Kuhn claims after a revolutionary change of theory, scientists need to write new textbooks to incorporate the new theoretical perspective. The revisions do not merely involve the addition of the new discoveries. The task involves some rewriting of the history of the discipline. Kuhn suggests there are parallels to Orwell’s 1984. The “new” history of a scientific field is written to emphasize the continuity through the change. I examine the role Kuhn’s comparison to 1984 plays in his argument, and the significance of the rewriting of a discipline’s history after a change of theory. The process tells us something about both how scientists are trained to work effectively, and the nature of the changes that occur during a scientific revolution.

AB - Kuhn claims after a revolutionary change of theory, scientists need to write new textbooks to incorporate the new theoretical perspective. The revisions do not merely involve the addition of the new discoveries. The task involves some rewriting of the history of the discipline. Kuhn suggests there are parallels to Orwell’s 1984. The “new” history of a scientific field is written to emphasize the continuity through the change. I examine the role Kuhn’s comparison to 1984 plays in his argument, and the significance of the rewriting of a discipline’s history after a change of theory. The process tells us something about both how scientists are trained to work effectively, and the nature of the changes that occur during a scientific revolution.

KW - scientific progress

KW - theory change

KW - George Orwell

KW - science textbooks

KW - history of science

KW - scientific training

U2 - 10.1017/9781009122696.015

DO - 10.1017/9781009122696.015

M3 - Book chapter

SN - 9781009100700

T3 - Cambridge Philosophical Anniversaries

SP - 182

EP - 196

BT - Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions at 60

A2 - Wray, K. Brad

PB - Cambridge University Press

CY - Cambridge

ER -