KUHN’S PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND THE DEFENSE OF SCIENTIFIC RATIONALITY

Abstract

In the present paper, I provide a reconstruction of Kuhn’s philosophy of history of science based mainly on Kuhn’s criticism of Lakatos. My goal is to examine the compatibility of the Kuhnian philosophy of history with his explicit aspiration to defend scientific rationality. I argue that the Kuhnian philosophy of history is essentially formed by three tenets: (a) contextualism, (b) radical anti-presentism, and (c) naturalism. I conclude that the combination of those three tenets is incompatible with the logical distinguishability between being-justified and being-taken-to-be-justified, which is a prerequisite for the proper defense of scientific rationality.