Scientific revolutions as a change of program
Dialogues between Niklas Luhmann and Thomas S. Kuhn
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21910/rbsd.v13i3.987Keywords:
Luhmann, Kuhn, Systems Theory, Scientific revolutions, Paradigm shift, True/false codeAbstract
This article examines the relationship between Niklas Luhmann’s theory of science, as formulated in Die Wissenschaft der Gesellschaft (1990), and the model of scientific revolutions proposed by Thomas S. Kuhn in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962). The central hypothesis is that the phenomenon described by Kuhn as a “scientific revolution” can be reinterpreted, from the perspective of systems theory, as a change in the programs of the scientific system, without affecting the true/false binary code. It is argued that Luhmann does not ignore the Kuhnian debate, but rather reabsorbs it into a broader theory of functional differentiation, gaining conceptual precision at the cost of a certain distancing from the history of science. The article draws on the concepts of autopoiesis, code, program, second-order observation, and structural coupling to demonstrate how the systems perspective offers resources for understanding the historical discontinuity of science without resorting to incommensurability or the psychology of scientific communities.
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