Paul Hoyningen-Huene

What are the “costs” of science besides its expected benefits? Specifically, how “tense” does the relation between science and society become in the light of the ever-increasing pressure of the latter on the former? In this paper I am going to discus the increasing global inequality deriving from phenomena such as the “brain drain” and from the problems relative to the relationship between ethics and science. I will conclude by considering the tension that arises out of the disciplinary structure of science and the non-disciplinary structure of the most pressing problems that society is faced with and has to react to.

Summary The paper deals with the interrelations among philosophy, sociology, and historiography of science in Thomas Kuhn's theory of scientific development. First, historiography of science provides the basis for both philosophy and sociology of science in the sense that the fundamental questions of both disciplines depend on the principles of the form of historiography employed. Second, the fusion of sociology and philosophy of science, as advocated by Kuhn, is discussed. This fusion consists essentially in a replacement of methodological rules by cognitive values that influence the decisions of scientific communities. As a consequence, the question of the rationality of theory choice arises, both with respect to the actual decisions and to the possible justification of cognitive values and their change

The article discusses Thomas S. Kuhn's impact on the history of science, especially in the United States of America. First, the state of the history of science in the fifties is sketched. Second, Kuhn's particular contribution to the emerging new historiography of science is presented. Third, Kuhn's role in the m-stitutionalization of the history of science in the USA is considered. Finally, some remarks are made on the relation between Kuhn's historiographic work and his book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions