The Ptolemaic view of astronomy placed the earth as the center of the universe of which other planets rotated around. This view was held by many for centuries. However, this Ptolemaic view was replaced by Copernican heliocentrism. This view held that the sun, and not the earth, was the center of the universe. The earth, as well as the other planets, rotated around the sun in circular paths, which was later proved to be elliptical paths. This theory change would be described as a scientific revolution. Thomas Kuhn used this example in his work The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Kuhn believed that changes in scientific theory are irrational and that scientific realities are constructed to a relative paradigm. In contrast, Larry
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One could be distressed by Kuhn’s view because scientific shifts can bring about chaos from the abruptness of scientific revolutions. The shift from the Ptolemaic view of astronomy to the Copernican view was not abrupt but took centuries. Even taken from a humanistic view, change occurs not suddenly but gradually in human development. Since man took many years to develop as a species, it would only be natural that science did so as well. Kuhn may say that the astronomy example is an exception to his view; however, for Larry Laudan this is not an exception but the true nature of scientific revolution. Laudan takes the correct approach because natural science should reflect the characteristics of its creator, which are gradual, rational change.
Laudan’s work, Science and Values: The Aims of Science and Their Role in Scientific Debate, challenges Kuhn’s view of the abruptness of the scientific revolution and the irrationality of paradigm choice. Rather than disregard Kuhn’s view altogether, Laudan attempts to modify the theory of scientific revolution. From Laudan’s view, Kuhn did not give an accurate argument as to why large, abrupt changes occurred in science. Laudan takes on a two-step process in order to modify Kuhn’s view. This undertaking is taken up in Chapter 4, “Dissecting the Holistic Picture of Scientific
One could be distressed by Kuhn’s view because scientific shifts can bring about chaos from the abruptness of scientific revolutions. The shift from the Ptolemaic view of astronomy to the Copernican view was not abrupt but took centuries. Even taken from a humanistic view, change occurs not suddenly but gradually in human development. Since man took many years to develop as a species, it would only be natural that science did so as well. Kuhn may say that the astronomy example is an exception to his view; however, for Larry Laudan this is not an exception but the true nature of scientific revolution. Laudan takes the correct approach because natural science should reflect the characteristics of its creator, which are gradual, rational change.
Laudan’s work, Science and Values: The Aims of Science and Their Role in Scientific Debate, challenges Kuhn’s view of the abruptness of the scientific revolution and the irrationality of paradigm choice. Rather than disregard Kuhn’s view altogether, Laudan attempts to modify the theory of scientific revolution. From Laudan’s view, Kuhn did not give an accurate argument as to why large, abrupt changes occurred in science. Laudan takes on a two-step process in order to modify Kuhn’s view. This undertaking is taken up in Chapter 4, “Dissecting the Holistic Picture of Scientific