Cournot and Renouvier on Scientific Revolutions

Distinct parallels exist between the historical evolution of scientific disciplines, as explained in Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, and the historical evolution of the accounting discipline. These parallels become apparent when accounting's dominant paradigm is interpreted to be the double-entry bookkeeping model. Following this interpretation, the extensive articulation of the double-entry model over the past four centuries may be seen to closely resemble the “normal science” of Kuhn's theory. Further parallels become apparent when Kuhn's concept of the disciplinary crises that precede scientific revolutions is compared to developments in the accounting discipline over the past 25 years. This portrayal of accounting's evolution suggests an uncertain future for the accounting discipline.

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Philosophy of Science

10.1093/oso/9780190690120.003.0011 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Eric Schliesser

Keyword(s):

Philosophy Of Science ◽

Crucial Role ◽

Social Enterprise ◽

Impartial Spectator ◽

Scientific Revolutions ◽

Theory Acceptance ◽

Scientific Systems

This chapter articulates Adam Smith’s philosophy of science. The first section emphasizes the significance of Smith’s social conception of science—science takes place, not always comfortably, within a larger society and is itself a social enterprise in which our emotions play a crucial role. Even so, in Smith’s view science ultimately is a reason-giving enterprise, akin to how he understands the role of the impartial spectator. The second and third sections explain Smith’s attitude to theorizing and its relationship, if any, to Humean skepticism. Smith distinguishes between theory acceptance and the possibility of criticism; while he accepts fallibilism, he also embraces scientific revolutions and even instances of psychological incommensurability. His philosophy is not an embrace of Humean skepticism, but a modest realism. Finally, the chapter explores the implications of Smith’s analysis of scientific systems as machines.

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Introduction

10.1093/oso/9780198717867.003.0001 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Roy Livermore

Keyword(s):

Science Journal ◽

Scientific Revolutions ◽

Physical Geology

… it is doubtful whether there will ever again be such a profusion of unexpected discoveries concentrated into so short an interval of time as there has been during the last twenty years.ARTHUR HOLMES, PRINCIPLES OF PHYSICAL GEOLOGY (1965)Scientific revolutions rarely start with a bang. In 1953, a modest article, barely a page in length, appeared in the weekly science journal ...

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Kuhn’s Structure of Scientific Revolutions at Fifty: Reflections on a Science Classic. Edited by Robert J. Richards and Lorraine Daston. Chicago (Illinois): University of Chicago Press. $75.00 (hardcover); $25.00 (paper). viii + 202 p.; ill.; index. ISBN: 978-0-226-31703-8 (hc); 978-0-226-31720-5 (pb); 978-0-226-31717-5 (eb). 2016.

The Quarterly Review of Biology ◽

10.1086/690847 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 92 (1) ◽

pp. 83-83

Author(s):

Elof Axel Carlson

Keyword(s):

University Of Chicago ◽

Scientific Revolutions ◽

Structure Of Scientific Revolutions ◽

University Of Chicago Press

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Ludwik Fleck e a presente história das ciências

História Ciências Saúde-Manguinhos ◽

10.1590/s0104-59701994000100003 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 7-18 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Ilana Löwy

Keyword(s):

Thomas Kuhn ◽

Ludwik Fleck ◽

Scientific Revolutions ◽

Structure Of Scientific Revolutions

O médico e epistemologista Ludwik Fleck desenvolveu, nas décadas de 1920-30, uma abordagem bastante original para o estudo das ciências. Ele apoiou sua epistemologia em duas bases: por um lado, em sua própria experiência profissional de bacteriologista e imunologista; por outro, na reflexão da Escola Polonesa de Filosofia da Medicina sobre as práticas dos médicos. Tal escola julga que os 'fatos científicos' são construídos por comunidades de pesquisadores - segundo os termos de Fleck, "coletivos de pensamento". Cada coletivo de pensamento elabora um "estilo de pensamento" único, composto pelo conjunto de normas, saberes e práticas partilhados por tal coletivo. Os recém-chegados são socializados em seu estilo de pensamento particular e adotam, portanto, seu olhar específico sobre o mundo. Os fatos científicos produzidos pelos membros de um dado coletivo de pensamento trazem sempre a marca de seu estilo de pensamento. Graças a isso, eles são incomensuráveis com os 'fatos' produzidos por outros coletivos de pensamento. A incomensurabilidade dos fatos científicos, aumentadas pela necessidade de 'traduzi-los' em outro estilo de pensamento para sua utilização pelas outras comunidades profissionais é, aos olhos de Fleck, uma fonte importante de inovação nas ciências e na sociedade. Por muito tempo esquecidas, as idéias de Fleck foram redescobertas nas décadas de 1960-70, em primeiro lugar por Thomas Kuhn (que, na introdução de The structure of scientific revolutions presta uma homenagem explícita à sua obra), depois pelos sociólogos das ciências. Além de sua influência diretamente perceptível, a epistemologia de Fleck mostra profundas afinidades com as novas tendências que se afirmam no estudo das ciências: a consideração das práticas dos pesquisadores e o interesse por suas técnicas materiais, discursivas e sociais.

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Revolutions in the earth sciences

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.1999.0531 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 354 (1392) ◽

pp. 1915-1919 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Claude Allègre ◽

Vincent Courtillot

Keyword(s):

Earth Sciences ◽

Quantum Mechanics ◽

20Th Century ◽

Plate Tectonics ◽

Statistical Physics ◽

Natural Sciences ◽

Scientific Revolutions ◽

The Earth

The 20th century has been a century of scientific revolutions for many disciplines: quantum mechanics in physics, the atomic approach in chemistry, the nonlinear revolution in mathematics, the introduction of statistical physics. The major breakthroughs in these disciplines had all occurred by about 1930. In contrast, the revolutions in the so–called natural sciences, that is in the earth sciences and in biology, waited until the last half of the century. These revolutions were indeed late, but they were no less deep and drastic, and they occurred quite suddenly. Actually, one can say that not one but three revolutions occurred in the earth sciences: in plate tectonics, planetology and the environment. They occurred essentially independently from each other, but as time passed, their effects developed, amplified and started interacting. These effects continue strongly to this day.

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Kuhn on architectural style

Architectural Research Quarterly ◽

10.1017/s1359135509990091 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 49-58

Author(s):

David Wang

Keyword(s):

Art History ◽

Recent Literature ◽

Scientific Progress ◽

Feminist Studies ◽

Architectural Style ◽

Logical Positivist ◽

Scientific Revolutions ◽

Structure Of Scientific Revolutions ◽

Common Parlance ◽

Work Structure

By any measure Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is a landmark in recent influential ideas. The very term ‘paradigm shift’, now common parlance, derives from this 1962 work. Structure redirected its own domain, the philosophy of science, from a logical positivist orientation in its evaluation of scientific progress to one that accommodates a complex mix of sociological, linguistic and psychological factors. Perhaps because of this interdisciplinary inclusiveness, Kuhn's insights have informed theory in many disciplines. A survey of the recent literature includes works in anthropology, comparative literature, criminal justice, art history, education and feminist studies.

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