库恩的身份认同 纪念《科学革命的结构》问世50周年

The Identity of Thomas S. Kuhn In Commemoration of the Fiftieth Year of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

托马斯·库恩是20世纪最伟大的科学哲学家和科学史学家。由他划时代著作《科学革命的结构》产生出来的"范式"和"范式转换"已经成为我们的日常生活用语。一方面,库恩自认在哲学上的最大贡献是"不可通约性",但这一点遭到多方非议。另一方面,当他被认为是"科学知识社会学"(SSK)强纲领的思想先驱时,他却拒绝承认SSK的主张;他在学术上的同路人少得可怜,与他在思想界的巨大影响完全不成比例。库恩从登上学术舞台开始,就遭到不同程度的误解,他一直在寻找自己的身份定位。本文试图通过梳理矛盾的库恩形象,他与学生的关系以及影响他的思想形成的几大事件,从"误解"与"被误解"的角度来阐释库恩的心路历程。我们的目的不是"去魅",更不想树立新的偶像,而是试图还原一个真实的库恩。

Thomas Kuhn is the greatest historian and philosopher of science in 20th century. The terms ＂paradigm＂ and ＂paradigm shift＂ originated by his epoch-making work The Structure of Scientific Revolutions has already become our daily common words. For one thing, the idea ＂Incommensurability＂ which Kuhn valued as his own biggest contribution to philosophy had aroused great controversies. For another thing, he was regarded as the intellectual pioneer of the Strong Programme in Sociology of Scientific Knowledge （SSK） whose idea, however, never won acceptance by him. He had little ally in academic circle, completely out of proportion to his huge influence in the intelligentsia. Since the day he began his career, he was misinterpreted to varying degrees, and throughout his life, he had been looking for his identity. This essay attempts to understand the process of Kuhn＇s thought from both prospects of ＂misinterpretation＂ and ＂being misinterpreted＂ via Kuhn＇s ambivalent images, his relationship with his students as well as the big influential events in his formative years. This paper aims not ＂to disenchant＂, or even to set a new image of idol, but to present a man＇s authentic image - the image of Thomas Kuhn.