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Sarton, Kuhn and the history of science

Grant number: 13/20172-0
Support Opportunities:Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
Start date: October 01, 2014
End date: April 30, 2016
Field of knowledge:Humanities - Philosophy - Epistemology
Principal Investigator:José Carlos Pinto de Oliveira
Grantee:Amélia de Jesus Oliveira
Host Institution: Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas (IFCH). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

In our recently defended thesis, Duhem and Kuhn: continuism and descontinuism in the history of science (2012), we tried show the impropriety of a prevalent discourse that opposed the new historiography of Kuhn (in which the understanding of scientific revolutions is inherent) with the older historiography (characterised by the omission of scientific revolutions and by cumulative development, in which Duhem is presented as representative). In our critique of what we consider to be a misguided dischotomy, a key question confronts us: from what basis can we maintain a certain distinction between the old and new historiographies, while avoiding the assumptions made by other historians and critics of the historiography of science? Is it possible to identify a representative of ancient historiography that would allow us, in contrast, understand better the new historiography? Following indications by Kuhn himself, we turn to an investigation of the work of George Sarton. Although still invariably cited as a tireless worker in the creation and development of the discipline of History of Science, in the last five decades Sarton has received little attention in analyzes devoted exclusively to his work. References to his role in the history of science seem to reiterate the common criticisms made of traditional historiography, that stem from the new historiographers of science. We propose to investigate the historical conceptions of George Sarton and Thomas Kuhn, by exploring their confluences and divergences. By doing so, we seek to shed some new light on the so-called "historiographic revolution", whose scholars have increasingly disqualified Sarton's work as a historian, presumably as a result of the conceptions of Kuhn.

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Scientific publications
(The scientific publications listed on this page originate from the Web of Science or SciELO databases. Their authors have cited FAPESP grant or fellowship project numbers awarded to Principal Investigators or Fellowship Recipients, whether or not they are among the authors. This information is collected automatically and retrieved directly from those bibliometric databases.)
AMÉLIA DE JESUS OLIVEIRA. . Trans/Form/Ação, v. 39, n. 2, p. 53-86, . (13/20172-0)