The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Khun

  (out of 5 stars)

Thomas Kuhn's foundational work The Structure of Scientific Revolutions lays out the concept of paradigm shifts as fundamental to the history of science. While the book is dense at times, and certainly scholarly-technical in many places, Structure still contains an enjoyable read for anyone with an interest in the ways in which significant changes occur in scientific theories.

Kuhn's argument concentrates on shifts in fundamental concepts in the fields of astronomy and physics, as well as a few other areas. He describes how the prevaling paradigm provides a set of facts and instruments which enable further progress in the field while still leaving holes in need of work. Demonstrating that paradigm shifts occur only after a crisis in the field, Kuhn argues that such crises predict a fundament shift in the underlying tenats of the paradigm. While these paradigm shifts can certainly be tremendously important and change many of the basic assumptions, Kuhn makes clear that these changes are not immediate and take place, typically, over decades of work and debate, and at times, are hindered by popular adherents to the old paradigm.

Structure is probably not a book for most popular science readers, but for anyone who is enthusiastic about the history of science, there are few books which offer the sort of discussion available here. Kuhn's look at the nature of paradigm shifts, despite being decades old, still offers a profound and engaging argument for the processes behind the shifting descriptions of the natural world. Four stars, but recommended only to those who really enjoy history of science and epistemological arguments.