Thomas Kuhn and the semantic conception of incommensurability

Author(s)

Paulo Pirozelli Almeida Silva

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD)
• Defense date: 2013-07-04

Examining board members

Caetano Ernesto Plastino; Joao Vergilio Gallerani Cuter; Robinson Guitarrari

• Advisor: Caetano Ernesto Plastino

Abstract

Thomas Kuhn was one of the most important philosophers of science of the twentieth century. Among his major contributions, there is the thesis of incommensurability of scientific theories. This work aims to show how this theory, originally presented in the book The Structure of Revolutions, from 1962, was modified by Kuhn over the years, focusing on his last articles, written between the 1980s and 1990s. The incommensurability is then reduced to a semantic relation restricted to certain portions of language (local incommensurability). To explain how this is possible, Kuhn is led to think, firstly, in the learning and operation of the concepts, and how they are organized in taxonomic structures. After that he elaborates other aspects of a philosophy of language, as meaning and truth, which allow him to answer the main criticisms which had been directed to the notion of incommensurability originally exposed. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 11/05393-5 - Thomas Kuhn's incommensurability thesis in the writings of the 1980's to the 1990's
• Grantee: Paulo Pirozelli Almeida Silva
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master