The Structure of Theory and the Structure of Scientific Revolutions

2011 ◽  
pp. 2177-2201
Author(s):  
Steven E. Wallis
Keyword(s):  
Systems Theory ◽  
Objective Measure ◽  
Management Science ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
University Management ◽  
Business World ◽  
Scientific Revolutions ◽  
Structure Of Scientific Revolutions

From a Kuhnian perspective, a paradigmatic revolution in management science will significantly improve our understanding of the business world and show practitioners (including managers and consultants) how to become much more effective. Without an objective measure of revolution, however, the door is open for spurious claims of revolutionary advance. Such claims cause confusion among scholars and practitioners and reduce the legitimacy of university management programs. Metatheoretical methods, based on insights from systems theory, provide new tools for analyzing the structure of theory. Propositional analysis is one such method that may be applied to objectively quantify the formal robustness of management theory. In this chapter, I use propositional analysis to analyze different versions of a theory as it evolves across 1,500 years of history. This analysis shows how the increasing robustness of theory anticipates the arrival of revolution and suggests an innovative and effective way for scholars and practitioners to develop and evaluate theories of management.

The Structure of Theory and the Structure of Scientific Revolutions

2010 ◽  
pp. 151-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven E. Wallis
Keyword(s):  
Systems Theory ◽  
Objective Measure ◽  
Management Science ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
University Management ◽  
Business World ◽  
Scientific Revolutions ◽  
Structure Of Scientific Revolutions

From a Kuhnian perspective, a paradigmatic revolution in management science will significantly improve our understanding of the business world and show practitioners (including managers and consultants) how to become much more effective. Without an objective measure of revolution, however, the door is open for spurious claims of revolutionary advance. Such claims cause confusion among scholars and practitioners and reduce the legitimacy of university management programs. Metatheoretical methods, based on insights from systems theory, provide new tools for analyzing the structure of theory. Propositional analysis is one such method that may be applied to objectively quantify the formal robustness of management theory. In this chapter, I use propositional analysis to analyze different versions of a theory as it evolves across 1,500 years of history. This analysis shows how the increasing robustness of theory anticipates the arrival of revolution and suggests an innovative and effective way for scholars and practitioners to develop and evaluate theories of management.

A KUHNIAN INTERPRETATION OF THE HISTORICAL EVOLUTION OF ACCOUNTING

1989 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry E. Cushing
Keyword(s):  
Historical Evolution ◽  
Scientific Revolutions ◽  
The Past ◽  
Structure Of Scientific Revolutions ◽  
Model Following ◽  
Entry Model ◽  
Scientific Disciplines ◽  
Uncertain Future ◽  
Double Entry ◽  
Dominant Paradigm

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.

scholarly journals Ludwik Fleck e a presente história das ciências

1994 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-18 ◽  
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.

Kuhn on architectural style

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.

RISE, GRUBENHUND: ON PROVINCIALIZING KUHN

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
DEBORAH R. COEN
Keyword(s):  
History Of Science ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Ludwik Fleck ◽  
Scientific Revolutions ◽  
Visual Metaphors ◽  
Structure Of Scientific Revolutions ◽  
History Of ◽  
Kuhnian Revolution ◽  
Neutral Ground

Bilingualism was Kuhn's solution to the problem of relativism, the problem raised by his own theory of incommensurability. In The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, he argued that scientific theories are separated by gulfs of mutual incomprehension. There is no neutral ground from which to judge one theory fitter than another. Each is formulated in its own language and cannot be translated into the idiom of another. Yet, like many Americans, Kuhn never had the experience of moving comfortably between languages. “I've never been any good really at foreign languages,” he admitted in an interview soon before his death. “I can read French, I can read German, if I'm dropped into one of those countries I can stammer along for a while, but my command of foreign languages is not good, and never has been, which makes it somewhat ironic that much of my thought these days goes to language.” Kuhn may have been confessing to more than a personal weakness. His linguistic ineptitude seems to be a clue to his overweening emphasis on the difficulty of “transworld travel.” Multilingualism remained for him an abstraction. In this respect, I will argue, Kuhn engendered a peculiarly American turn in the history of science. Kuhn's argument for the dependence of science on the norms of particular communities has been central to the development of studies of science in and as culture since the 1980s. Recent work on the mutual construction of science and nationalism, for instance, is undeniably in Kuhn's debt. Nonetheless, the Kuhnian revolution cut off other avenues of research. In this essay, I draw on the counterexample of the physician–historian Ludwik Fleck, as well as on critiques by Steve Fuller and Ted Porter, to suggest one way to situate Kuhn within the broader history of the history of science. To echo Kuhn's own visual metaphors, one of the profound effects of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions on the field of history of science was to render certain modes of knowledge production virtually invisible.

scholarly journals A paradigmatic visionary perspective: professional master's in nursing

2018 ◽  
Vol 71 (5) ◽  
pp. 2584-2588 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cláudio José de Souza ◽  
Zenith Rosa Silvino
Keyword(s):  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Scientific Revolution ◽  
Graduate Courses ◽  
Master's Programs ◽  
Scientific Revolutions ◽  
Structure Of Scientific Revolutions ◽  
Reflective Study ◽  
Master's In Nursing ◽  
Theoretical Reflection ◽  
Dominant Paradigm

ABSTRACT Objective: To reflect on the key concepts of the book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions and its applicability in professional master's in nursing. Method: This is a theoretical-reflective study that uses the philosophical and epistemological conceptions of the philosopher Thomas Samuel Kuhn to consider its applicability on the paradigm shift of stricto sensu graduate courses in nursing. The main concepts of Kuhn were used as support: paradigm, anomaly, scientific community and scientific revolution. Results: The propositions of this philosopher are applied to and support the theoretical reflection on professional master's programs, contributing to clarify what would be a paradigmatic visionary perspective in stricto sensu master's models in nursing. Conclusion: From Kuhn's propositions it was possible to conclude that professional master's programs in nursing can break away from the dominant paradigm, strengthening a scientific revolution within the academia.

scholarly journals Freud, Said, and the ancient and classical worlds

Literator ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger M. Field
Keyword(s):  
Greek Mythology ◽  
Greek Literature ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Greek Society ◽  
Scientific Revolutions ◽  
Structure Of Scientific Revolutions ◽  
Mass Psychology ◽  
The Impact

Sigmund Freud’s reading of the classics and Greek mythology is well documented. By contrast, Edward Said’s reading of Freud has received little attention. This article considers three main issues: how Said and Freud thought about and used ancient and classical Greek literature; the ways in which Said has read Freud reading the ancient and classical worlds; the significance of ambivalence and analogy for these readings. The article concludes that there is a necessary relationship between analogy and ambivalence. Primarily chronological, the reading also draws on Freud’s notions of latency and repression to track how Said’s approaches to ambivalence and analogy changed. In the case of Said, it is possible to attribute some of these changes to the impact of Bernal’s Black Athena, which encouraged him to review the notions of ancient Greek society which underpin Orientalism, and to Bernal’s narrative inspiration, Kuhn’s The structure of scientific revolutions. Latency and repression make it possible to posit prehistories. Therefore, the article also examines the ways in which Freud and Said have been obliged to assume continuities between prehistory and history, and between individual and mass psychology.

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