The TEA Set

Tacit Knowledge and Scientific Networks

Bibliographic Data

ID23314532
AuthorsH M Collins (School of Humanities and Social Sciences University of Bath Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, U.K), Harry Collins (0000-0003-2909-9035, University of Bath, corresponding author)
Year1974
Volume4
Issue2
Pages165-185
Publication date1974-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueScience studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2703-1551 • E-ISSN: 2703-1543
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/030631277400400203
OpenAlexW2116616114
LanguageEN
Citations received211

INTRODUCTION: METHODOLOGICAL AND THEORETICAL ARGUMENT Thomas Kuhn's concept of 'paradigm has attracted a lot of attention from sociologists and historians of science. In particular, some recent work has involved the search for groups of scientists which are taken to be the social analogue of this idea. I will argue here that the boundaries of those 'social circles' of scientists which have been found are not likely to correspond with the boundaries of groups sharing a paradigm unless the term be construed in a restricted sense. This is because the research methods used in most cases are unsuitable for the investigation of cognitive specificity and discontinuity. But it is precisely because paradigm groups are seen as conceptually homogeneous and bounded that the idea has excited interest in the sociology of science as a branch of the sociology of knowledge. An impressive number of studies2 have been published which try to show

Business · Knowledge management · Set (abstract data type) · Tacit knowledge · Computer Science · Philosophy and History of Science

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