Abstract

GUILLAUMIN, Godfrey. Epistemological Relativism Seen through Thomas Kuhn's Theory of Scientific Change. Relac. Estud. hist. soc. [online]. 2009, vol.30, n.120, pp.139-164. ISSN 2448-7554.

Radical philosophical relativism has long been associated with the work of Thomas Kuhn, specifically his book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. However, this association has not lost its paradoxical nature, which emerges from the fact that Kuhn did not see himself as a radical relativist. This article has a dual objective; first, to present an analysis that demonstrates some of the reasons why it is incorrect to characterize Kuhn's work as radically relativist; and, second, to show that Kuhn himself tacitly offered a way out of this dilemma in terms of the idea of scientific reasoning.

Keywords : radical relativism; scientific reasoning; evolutionary development; genealogical inference; Thomas Kuhn.

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