Kuhn the Irrationalist

Theres an article in todays Observer marking the 50th anniversary of the publication of Thomas Kuhns book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. John Naughton, who wrote the piece, claims that this book changed the way we look at science. I dont agree with this view at all, actually. Theres little in Kuhns book that isnt implicit in the writings of Karl Popper and little in Poppers work that isnt implicit in the work of a far more important figure in the development of the philosophy of science, David Hume. The key point about all these authors is that they failed to understand the central role played by probability and inductive logic in scientific research. In the following Ill try to explain how I think it all went wrong. It might help the uninitiated to read an earlier post of mine... [via In The Dark]