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The Incommensurability Thesis: Has It Lost Its Bite?

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Field Value
 
Title The Incommensurability Thesis: Has It Lost Its Bite?
 
Creator GUPTA, A
 
Subject Incommensurability
Kuhn's "Aristotle Experience"
Kuhn's linguistic turn
Untranslatability and meaning change
Local incommensurability
Scientific realism
 
Description Incommensurability constitutes the focal point of Kuhn's departure from the prevailing traditions in Philosophy of Science. The paper traces the mathematical origin of the concept of "incommensurability" and philosophical environment that constrained the introduction of the idea in the literature. It then discusses the stages through which the concept of "incommensurability" evolved in Kuhn's thought. The final account of "incommensurability," viz., Kinds Theory of Incommensurability or Taxonomic Incommensurability, is also expounded, and some associated philosophical problems are discussed. We analyze two case studies, provide textual and historical evidence, and cite the work of scholars supporting the conceptual continuity across the revolutionary divide in both the case studies. Kuhn acknowledges the rigidity of his earlier position and softens his stand on incommensurability in his last formulation of the thesis, justifying the title of the paper that Kuhn's thesis lost its bite. At the end of the paper, we discuss some of the philosophical problems arising out of it and make certain critical remarks on the final account.
 
Publisher SPRINGER INDIA
 
Date 2016-01-14T12:49:37Z
2016-01-14T12:49:37Z
2015
 
Type Article
 
Identifier JOURNAL OF INDIAN COUNCIL OF PHILOSOPHICAL RESEARCH, 32(1)59-77
0970-7794
2363-9962
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40961-015-0007-9
http://dspace.library.iitb.ac.in/jspui/handle/100/17539
 
Language en