Merton and Kuhn

The Relationship That Shaped Science Studies

Bibliographic Data

ID22420331
AuthorsShashwat Vidhu Sher (Master of Liberal Arts, Stanford University, corresponding author)
Year2026
Volume34
Issue1
Pages105-136
Publication date2026-02-20
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePerspectives on Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1063-6145 • E-ISSN: 1530-9274
PublisherMIT Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1162/posc.a.574
OpenAlexW7128632419
LanguageEN
References cited25

This study examines the intellectual and personal relationship between Robert K. Merton and Thomas S. Kuhn, and its lasting influence on the emergence of science studies as a distinct field. While Merton is often positioned as a founder of the sociology of science and Kuhn as the architect of the modern philosophy and history of science, their correspondence and collaborations reveal a deeper and more reciprocal exchange. Drawing on archival sources, including letters, notes, and memoirs, the research demonstrates that Merton and Kuhn’s interactions shaped each other’s academic trajectories in ways often overlooked in standard narratives. Merton’s sociological frameworks helped provide Kuhn with a lens for thinking about scientific communities and norms, while Kuhn’s historical and conceptual innovations, like his articulation of paradigm, redirected Merton’s attention toward new intellectual currents. In particular, their exchanges in the 1970s show a mutual effort to resist being cast as opposites by external commentators. This study concludes that the dialogue between Merton and Kuhn was not incidental but formative, providing a connective tissue that helped establish science studies as an interdisciplinary domain bridging history, philosophy, and sociology of science.

History of science · Philosophy of science · Reciprocal · Science studies · Sociology of scientific knowledge · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Flannery O'Connor and Thomas Merton · History and Philosophy of Science · Philosophy and History of Science

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