The Politics of Paradigms: Thomas S. Kuhn, James B. Conant, and the Cold War “Struggle for Men’s Minds”

Author:   George A. Reisch
Publisher:   State University of New York Press
ISBN:  

9781438473666


Pages:   502
Publication Date:   02 January 2020
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   In stock   Availability explained
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The Politics of Paradigms: Thomas S. Kuhn, James B. Conant, and the Cold War “Struggle for Men’s Minds”


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Overview

The Politics of Paradigms shows that America's most famous and influential book about science, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions of 1962, was inspired and shaped by Thomas Kuhn's political interests, his relationship with the influential cold warrior James Bryant Conant, and America's McCarthy-era struggle to resist and defeat totalitarian ideology. Through detailed archival research, Reisch shows how Kuhn's well-known theories of paradigms, crises, and scientific revolutions emerged from within urgent political worries—on campus and in the public sphere—about the invisible, unconscious powers of ideology, language, and history to shape the human mind and its experience of the world.

Full Product Details

Author:   George A. Reisch
Publisher:   State University of New York Press
Imprint:   State University of New York Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.227kg
ISBN:  

9781438473666


ISBN 10:   1438473664
Pages:   502
Publication Date:   02 January 2020
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In stock   Availability explained
We have confirmation that this item is in stock with the supplier. It will be ordered in for you and dispatched immediately.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations Preface Bombs and Books: An Introduction Timeline of Events and Documents Cast of Additional Characters Part I. War and Crisis 1. Progress and Revolution in the Suburbs of New York 2. War and General Education at Harvard 3. History of Science in a Divided World Part II. “The Struggle for Men’s Minds” 4. The Cold War Conversions of Thomas S. Kuhn and James Bryant Conant 5. Sidney Hook and the Anticommunist Inquisition 6. Brainwashing, or the Structure of Philosophical Revolutions 7. The Necessary Dangers of Consensus and Unity Part III. The Cold War Origins of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions 8. The Language, Psychology, and Psychoanalysis of Scientific “Reorientations” 9. “Attention Senator McCarthy”: The Perils of Methodology in Totalitarian Times 10. Ideology and Revolution in the International Encyclopedia of Unified Science 11. Progress, Ideology, and “Writing History Backwards” 12. From “Ideology” and “Consensus” to Paradigmania Part IV. The New World of Paradigms 13. “If Mr. Kuhn Is Right . . .”: Paradigms and Dogmas in Cold War Science Education 14. The Magic of Paradigms 15. Spies, Prisons, Mobs, Bandwagons, and Beasts 16. The Thomas Kuhn Experience 17. A Revolution and a New Ideology Epilogue: Writing and Rewriting History Acknowledgments Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Index

Reviews

"""The book is … full of new information, new insights and thought-provoking connections. It should be required reading for everyone interested in Kuhn's Structure, its sources and its political and cultural background."" — Metascience ""Impressive archival research into the entirety of Kuhn's publications, manuscript drafts, and letters exposes how his understanding of scientific revolutions was assembled … Highly recommended."" — CHOICE ""This book raises and explores important questions about the ideological background of some of the most important work in the philosophy of science in the twentieth century. It challenges conventional wisdom about the ideological neutrality of that work."" — Peter S. Fosl, editor of The Big Lebowski and Philosophy: Keeping Your Mind Limber with Abiding Wisdom"


Impressive archival research into the entirety of Kuhn's publications, manuscript drafts, and letters exposes how his understanding of scientific revolutions was assembled ... Highly recommended. - CHOICE This book raises and explores important questions about the ideological background of some of the most important work in the philosophy of science in the twentieth century. It challenges conventional wisdom about the ideological neutrality of that work. - Peter S. Fosl, editor of The Big Lebowski and Philosophy: Keeping Your Mind Limber with Abiding Wisdom


Author Information

George A. Reisch is managing editor of The Monist and series editor for Open Court Publishing Company's series Popular Culture and Philosophy.

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