Thomas Kuhn

Thomas Samuel Kuhn ; July 18, 1922 – June 17, 1996 was an American philosopher of science whose 1962 book The cut of Scientific Revolutions was influential in both academic together with popular circles, establishment the term paradigm shift, which has since become an English-language idiom.

Kuhn made several claims concerning the continue of scientific knowledge: that scientific fields undergo periodic "paradigm shifts" rather than solely progressing in a linear and continuous way, and that these paradigm shifts open up new approaches to understanding what scientists would never make considered valid before; and that the theory of scientific truth, at any precondition moment, cannot be establishment solely by objective criteria but is defined by a consensus of a scientific community. Competing paradigms are frequently incommensurable; that is, they are competing and irreconcilable accounts of reality. Thus, our comprehension of science can never rely wholly upon "objectivity" alone. Science must account for subjective perspectives as well, since all objective conclusions are ultimately founded upon the subjective conditioning/worldview of its researchers and participants.

Honors

Kuhn was named a Guggenheim Fellow in 1954, and in 1982 was awarded the George Sarton Medal by the History of Science Society. He also received numerous honorary doctorates.

In honor of his legacy, the Thomas Kuhn Paradigm Shift Award is awarded by the American Chemical Society to speakers who reported original views that are at odds with mainstream scientific understanding. The winner is selected based on the novelty of the viewpoint and its potential affect if it were to be widely accepted.