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Specialisation and the Incommensurability Among Scientific Specialties.
- Source :
- Journal for General Philosophy of Science; Mar2019, Vol. 50 Issue 1, p129-144, 16p
- Publication Year :
- 2019
-
Abstract
- In his mature writings, Kuhn describes the process of specialisation as driven by a form of incommensurability, defined as a conceptual/linguistic barrier which promotes and guarantees the insularity of specialties. In this paper, we reject the idea that the incommensurability among scientific specialties is a linguistic barrier. We argue that the problem with Kuhn's characterisation of the incommensurability among specialties is that he presupposes a rather abstract theory of semantic incommensurability, which he then tries to apply to his description of the process of specialisation. By contrast, this paper follows a different strategy: after criticising Kuhn's view, it takes a further look at how new scientific specialties emerge. As a result, a different way of understanding incommensurability among specialties will be proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- SCIENTIFIC discoveries
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 09254560
- Volume :
- 50
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Journal for General Philosophy of Science
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 135963738
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10838-018-9432-1