Opening up HPS-debates On reading Kuhn and the history of the quantum
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Abstract
In this paper, I discuss the reception of Kuhn's book on Planck and the quantum. Most criticisms of the book concern, I argue, how to understand Kuhn's notion of a paradigm, and they all read the notion, I claim by means of Joseph Rouse's work, in theory-driven terms. I then show that an alternative reading, in terms of a practice-focused reading of paradigms, is also possible, and is in fact to be preferred, since it is more in line with how Kuhn narrated the quantum-episode, it overcomes most of the criticisms raised against the book, and it allows us to open up new historical-philosophical research directions.
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