Ideology and the philosophy of science

There are significant flaws in recent claims that Thomas Kuhn's work was an apology for American Cold War ideology and a manifestation of the transformation of logical positivism from a politically motivated philosophy to an apolitical account of the logic of science. These arguments present an inaccurate account of important aspects of the European origins of positivism and its post-emigration career in the United States, and they misinterpret the character and impact of Kuhn's work. Although significant elements of the image of science that Kuhn criticized originated in positivist philosophy of science, that image most distinctly took shape in peripheral fields such as political science where it was appropriated as part of a conservative defence against an attack, by another wave of émigré scholars, on the traditional American commitment to science and liberalism. In the end, it was Kuhn's work that provided the most significant basis for challenging the image of science that dominated the Cold War era. History, if viewed as a repository for more than anecdote or chronology, could produce a decisive transformation in the image of science by which we are now possessed. Thomas Kuhn

Epistemology · Ideology · Liberalism · Logical positivism · Normal science · Philosophy of science · Political science · Politics · Positivism · Social science · Sociology · History and Philosophy of Science · History of Science and Medicine · Law · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science · Philosophy, Science, and History

• The Kuhning of reason

  Open Access•Nicolas Guilhot•Review of International Studies•2016

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• Social scientific inquiry and meta-theoretical fantasy

  Open Access•John G Gunnell•Review of International Studies•2011

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• The closing of the American mind

  Open Access•Deborah Levine, Daniel J Levine et al.•European Journal of International…•2014

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• Natural Right and History

  Leo Strauss•Natural Right and History…•1965

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• Liberal Tradition in America

  Louis Hartz•Liberal Tradition in America•1991

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• Relativity--A Richer Truth

  Stephen Toulmin, Philipp Frank•The Philosophical Quarterly•1951

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