Contents
-
-
-
-
-
The Aristotle Experience The Aristotle Experience
-
The Aristotle Experience: 1957–1979 The Aristotle Experience: 1957–1979
-
The Scientific Mind and Experience The Scientific Mind and Experience
-
The Captive Scientific Mind The Captive Scientific Mind
-
Paradigms and Conversion Experiences Paradigms and Conversion Experiences
-
From “Indoctrination” to “Dogmatism” From “Indoctrination” to “Dogmatism”
-
Notes Notes
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
One Aristotle in the Cold War: On the Origins of Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Get access-
Published:March 2016
Cite
Abstract
This chapter contextualizes Kuhn’s early thinking about science and philosophy in the first years of the cold war and, in particular, his formative “Aristotle experience,” his sudden realization that outmoded scientific texts and ideas could be sensible and intelligent when understood in the right ways. Kuhn’s mentor, Harvard University President James Bryant Conant, played a large role in Kuhn’s interpretation of this “shocking” experience and the way it informed the historiography in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. This includes not only Conant’s historical writings about science but widespread interest in political conversions manifest during the same years in popular anxieties about Communist influence in the United States (including reports of mind control and brainwashing) and academic over the status and rights of Communist faculty. In Structure, it is argued, Kuhn took this conventional wisdom about the susceptibility of the human mind to ideological control and applied it creatively and ironically to our understanding of scientific progress: the dogmatic, ideological character of “normal science” is in fact essential for the progressive, revolutionary character of science’s history.
Sign in
Get help with accessPersonal account
- Sign in with email/username & password
- Get email alerts
- Save searches
- Purchase content
- Activate your purchase/trial code
Institutional access
- Sign in through your institution
- Sign in with a library card Sign in with username/password Recommend to your librarian
Institutional account management
Sign in as administratorPurchase
Our books are available by subscription or purchase to libraries and institutions.
Purchasing informationMonth: | Total Views: |
---|---|
October 2022 | 2 |
November 2022 | 3 |
January 2023 | 3 |
February 2023 | 34 |
March 2023 | 33 |
April 2023 | 2 |
October 2023 | 1 |
December 2023 | 3 |
January 2024 | 3 |
February 2024 | 4 |
March 2024 | 2 |
April 2024 | 2 |
Get help with access
Institutional access
Access to content on Oxford Academic is often provided through institutional subscriptions and purchases. If you are a member of an institution with an active account, you may be able to access content in one of the following ways:
IP based access
Typically, access is provided across an institutional network to a range of IP addresses. This authentication occurs automatically, and it is not possible to sign out of an IP authenticated account.
Sign in through your institution
Choose this option to get remote access when outside your institution. Shibboleth/Open Athens technology is used to provide single sign-on between your institution’s website and Oxford Academic.
If your institution is not listed or you cannot sign in to your institution’s website, please contact your librarian or administrator.
Sign in with a library card
Enter your library card number to sign in. If you cannot sign in, please contact your librarian.
Society Members
Society member access to a journal is achieved in one of the following ways:
Sign in through society site
Many societies offer single sign-on between the society website and Oxford Academic. If you see ‘Sign in through society site’ in the sign in pane within a journal:
If you do not have a society account or have forgotten your username or password, please contact your society.
Sign in using a personal account
Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members. See below.
Personal account
A personal account can be used to get email alerts, save searches, purchase content, and activate subscriptions.
Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members.
Viewing your signed in accounts
Click the account icon in the top right to:
Signed in but can't access content
Oxford Academic is home to a wide variety of products. The institutional subscription may not cover the content that you are trying to access. If you believe you should have access to that content, please contact your librarian.
Institutional account management
For librarians and administrators, your personal account also provides access to institutional account management. Here you will find options to view and activate subscriptions, manage institutional settings and access options, access usage statistics, and more.