Kuhn’s Structure of Scientific Revolutions at Fifty: Reflections on a Science Classic

Thomas S. Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, published in 1962, fundamentally changed how science is understood. Rather than viewing science as a gradual, logical accumulation of facts, Kuhn introduced the concept of the "paradigm shift" and brought social and psychological factors into the study of scientific progress. More than fifty years after publication, the work continues to shape thinking across multiple disciplines, including among scientists, historians, and sociologists. Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions at Fifty brings together essays from leading social scientists and philosophers examining the origins and fifty-year legacy of Kuhn's work. The contributors explore the historical context surrounding Kuhn's masterwork, analyzing its foundations in twentieth-century science and politics, Kuhn's own intellectual development as a physics graduate student, his relationships with psychologists before and after Structure's publication, and how Cold War frameworks influenced concepts like "world view" and "paradigm."