Saturday, March 8, 2008

8. Kuhn vs. Popper - Steven Fuller

This was a bit of random pickup. I think I was desperate to get into something vaguely "philosophical", and I don't know much about either Popper or Kuhn, so the idea was to get an interesting and thoughtful introduction to both of them. Unfortunately I'm not sure I got that with Steve Fuller's book - "Kuhn vs. Popper". Fuller is a sociologist who argues that creationism should be given a better chance against the "scientific dogmatism" he believes has become more popular. Uh huh. Why didn't I research him and this book before I bought it. I'm normally so good like that.

Anyway, he made some interesting points about Kuhn getting it all wrong and Popper being the guiding light despite the fact that Kuhn's critique of the scientific method is what he believes has been adopted in liberal intellectual circles. He may be right, but I have to say Kuhn's "paradigm shift" and "culturally specific" take on science isn't what I was taught at university. Admittedly I studied science in the Science rather than Arts faculty, but I'm not sure where that background to science is taught or consumed seriously.

I'll add more to this post after I gather my thoughts about this book. I have a niggling feeling it's valuable I just can't put my finger on it.

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