Introduction

William J. Devlin

Alisa Bokulich

pp. 1-9

in: William J. Devlin, Alisa Bokulich (eds), Kuhn's structure of scientific revolutions, Berlin, Springer, 2015

Abstract

In Spring of 2012, the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University hosted a session of the Boston Colloquium celebrating the 50^th anniversary of Thomas Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions (henceforth, Structure).This colloquium brought together many of the world's leading scholars on Kuhn and we were honored to have the Kuhn family present as well to share their own personal stories and perspectives about Thomas Kuhn and his work. It was not the first time the Center had marked an anniversary of this book: In 1982 Kuhn himself had come to speak in the Boston Colloquium about his Structure 20 years on.What is remarkable about this book, which has sold well over a million copies, is that it continues to shape the history and philosophy of science and popular thinking as much today, 50 years on, as it did 20 years on, though perhaps not in exactly the same way. Exploring just what the legacy of Kuhn's Structure is 50 years on is the subject of this volume. While the inspiration for this volume came from this colloquium, several additional scholars representing diverse perspectives within the history and philosophy of science have contributed papers.

Cited authors

Kuhn Thomas S