A PLURALIST INTERPRETATION OF THOMAS KUHN’S PHILOSOPHICAL POSITION

Abstract

It is commonplace in philosophical literature to attribute to Thomas Kuhn a philosophical view at odds with (scientific) realism, especially an idealist position rooted in the Kantian distinction between “world-in-itself” and “world of appearances”. In this paper I will argue that Kuhn’s philosophical view is amenable to a pluralist interpretation that fits better into his general philosophy of science. In addition, this pluralist approach to Kuhn’s philosophical position also provides an alternative view on incommensurability, whose central feature is represented by the taxonomical and ontological disparity that exists between rival or successive scientific specialties.