Skip to content

Out-of-date theories are not in principle unscientific because they have been discarded. That choice, however, makes it difficult to see scientific development as a process of accretion.

— Thomas Kuhn The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962)

Another quote →

More quotes by Thomas Kuhn

Men whose research is based on shared paradigms are committed to the same rules and standards for scientific practice.

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962)

Normal science often suppresses fundamental novelties because they are necessarily subversive of its basic commitments.

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962)

By now it may be clear that the position I'm developing is a sort of post-Darwinian Kantianism.

The Road Since Structure (2002)

In science, as in the playing card experiment, novelty emerges only with difficulty, manifested by resistance, against a background provided by expectation.

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962)

Only when they must choose between competing theories do scientists behave like philosophers.

All Thomas Kuhn quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Thomas Kuhn (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.