>Hi
>
>On Fri, 10 Nov 2000, sdv wrote:
>> Any experts on Kuhn out there to deconstruct and reply to this overstated
>> nonsense?
>
>First, let us hear what Kuhn himself had to say (not that his
>very clear statement did much to prevent any number of people
>from misinterpreting him).  In short, Kuhn was appalled at the
>kinds of extrapolations that people made from his work.  Here are
>some passages from the addendum to his book (I would especially
>draw sdv's attention to Kuhn's inclusion of the word "accuracy"
>as one determining factor in theory acceptance, which seems a
>reasonable synonym of "correctness" in this context):

Kuhn died in the 90's.  All of the citations here are from 20 years before.
Wouldn't it be better to base an argument attributed to Kuhn on more recent
references?

In addition I do not base my argument on Kuhn despite the fact that some
might relate it to things that have been said about him.

Dewey


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Dewey I. Dykstra, Jr.                 Phone: (208)426-3105
Professor of Physics                  Dept:  (208)426-3775
Department of Physics/MCF421/418      Fax: (208)426-4330
Boise State University            [log in to unmask]
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"As a result of modern research in physics, the ambition and hope,
still cherished by most authorities of the last century, that physical
science could offer a photographic picture and true image of reality
had to be abandoned."  --M. Jammer in Concepts of Force, 1957.

"If what we regard as real depends on our theory, how can we make
reality the basis of our philosophy? ...But we cannot distinguish
what is real about the universe without a theory...it makes no sense
to ask if it corresponds to reality, because we do not know what
reality is independent of a theory."--S. Hawking in Black Holes
and Baby Universes, 1993.
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