Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Interpreting Kuhn |
| Subtitle of host publication | Critical Essays |
| Editors | Brad Wray |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| Pages | 9-26 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| ISBN (electronic) | 9781108653206 |
| ISBN (print) | 9781108498296 |
| Publication status | Published - 2021 |
Abstract
Many have difficulties understanding what Kuhn meant when he spoke of “world change” due to revolutions. I reconstruct the historical path in which the idea emerged that reality is not something purely object-sided. The path starts with Copernicus’ new planetary system. The motions of the Sun and the planets, previously seen as purely object-sided, were now seen as containing genetically subject-sided contributions. A similar process, also at the center of the constitution of modern science, was the introduction of secondary qualities in the seventeenth century. In these historical processes, the reality status of something, whose reality seemed beyond doubt, changed dramatically. Philosophical reflection of such processes culminates in Kant’s critical philosophy. Ever since, this kind of “post-Copernican thinking” has been an indispensable part of the Western intellectual tradition, and it surfaced in the development of special relativity and quantum mechanics. I argue that Kuhn is continuing this tradition. Understanding this genealogy may make Kuhn’s metaphysics accessible to those realists who maintain that talk of genetically subject-sided contributions to reality is utterly inconsistent.
Keywords
- Copernican revolution, Kant, Primary and secondary qualities, Quantum physics, Reality, Special relativity, Subject-sided elements, World change
ASJC Scopus subject areas
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Interpreting Kuhn: Critical Essays. ed. / Brad Wray. Cambridge University Press, 2021. p. 9-26.
Research output: Chapter in book/report/conference proceeding › Contribution to book/anthology › Research › peer review
}
TY - CHAP
T1 - The Genealogy of Thomas Kuhn’s Metaphysics
AU - Hoyningen-Huene, Paul
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © Cambridge University Press 2021.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Many have difficulties understanding what Kuhn meant when he spoke of “world change” due to revolutions. I reconstruct the historical path in which the idea emerged that reality is not something purely object-sided. The path starts with Copernicus’ new planetary system. The motions of the Sun and the planets, previously seen as purely object-sided, were now seen as containing genetically subject-sided contributions. A similar process, also at the center of the constitution of modern science, was the introduction of secondary qualities in the seventeenth century. In these historical processes, the reality status of something, whose reality seemed beyond doubt, changed dramatically. Philosophical reflection of such processes culminates in Kant’s critical philosophy. Ever since, this kind of “post-Copernican thinking” has been an indispensable part of the Western intellectual tradition, and it surfaced in the development of special relativity and quantum mechanics. I argue that Kuhn is continuing this tradition. Understanding this genealogy may make Kuhn’s metaphysics accessible to those realists who maintain that talk of genetically subject-sided contributions to reality is utterly inconsistent.
AB - Many have difficulties understanding what Kuhn meant when he spoke of “world change” due to revolutions. I reconstruct the historical path in which the idea emerged that reality is not something purely object-sided. The path starts with Copernicus’ new planetary system. The motions of the Sun and the planets, previously seen as purely object-sided, were now seen as containing genetically subject-sided contributions. A similar process, also at the center of the constitution of modern science, was the introduction of secondary qualities in the seventeenth century. In these historical processes, the reality status of something, whose reality seemed beyond doubt, changed dramatically. Philosophical reflection of such processes culminates in Kant’s critical philosophy. Ever since, this kind of “post-Copernican thinking” has been an indispensable part of the Western intellectual tradition, and it surfaced in the development of special relativity and quantum mechanics. I argue that Kuhn is continuing this tradition. Understanding this genealogy may make Kuhn’s metaphysics accessible to those realists who maintain that talk of genetically subject-sided contributions to reality is utterly inconsistent.
KW - Copernican revolution
KW - Kant
KW - Primary and secondary qualities
KW - Quantum physics
KW - Reality
KW - Special relativity
KW - Subject-sided elements
KW - World change
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85148044320&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/9781108653206.002
DO - 10.1017/9781108653206.002
M3 - Contribution to book/anthology
SN - 9781108498296
SP - 9
EP - 26
BT - Interpreting Kuhn
A2 - Wray, Brad
PB - Cambridge University Press
ER -