The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses history and scientific theories that may be problematic to or not inclusive of certain views and religions.

In the Preface, Kuhn gives an overview of the journey he undertook in the making of this work. Structure, as the text is colloquially known, took 14 years to develop. Over the course of the text’s development, Kuhn was exposed to various academic specialties. While he began his education in the sciences, having trained as a physicist, he later moved into studying and teaching the history of science and later focused on philosophical treatments of the history of science.

Along the way, he was exposed to the work of social scientists, who heavily influenced his thoughts on scientific paradigms and revolutions.

Kuhn acknowledges his work is not fully formed and that it, in his opinion, deserves a lengthier treatment, one that explores different facets in greater depth.

Chapter 1 serves as an introduction to Kuhn’s main arguments, which he progressively develops over the chapters that follow. He starts by situating history as an important tool for uncovering a pattern within science: He argues that history reveals a pattern that challenges society’s view of science as