BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Kuhn and Feyerabend on pluralism\, education and history - Hasok C
 hang (Department of History and Philosophy of Science)
DTSTART:20251126T130000Z
DTEND:20251126T143000Z
UID:TALK238726@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Matt Farr
DESCRIPTION:The monism inherent in Kuhnian normal science was abhorrent to
  Feyerabend\, who advocated pluralism about the content and methodology of
  science and other systems of knowledge. This conflict was articulated mos
 t clearly in Feyerabend's letters to Kuhn critiquing a draft of _The Struc
 ture of Scientific Revolutions_\, in which he also accused Kuhn of disguis
 ing his normative philosophy as history. One important place where monism 
 and pluralism clash is education. Feyerabend\, Popper and others argued th
 at Kuhn's notion of normal science advocated dogmatic science education th
 at would stifle democracy and innovation.\n\nThe Kuhn–Feyerabend conflic
 t was actually not as severe as it may appear: Feyerabend respected the au
 tonomy of diverse cultural and epistemological traditions\, which are ofte
 n monistic within themselves\; Kuhnian revolutions require the presence of
  competing paradigms during periods of extraordinary science. Pluralism ca
 n accommodate local monism\, allowing the advantages of both the liberal e
 pistemology of Feyerabend and the discipline of Kuhnian normal science. Ma
 intaining multiple paradigms within a field of study produces the benefits
  of toleration while keeping the advantages of normal science within each 
 paradigm. However\, a more mature pluralism would also facilitate producti
 ve interactions between different systems of practice. In science educatio
 n\, too\, it is possible to ameliorate dogmatism while respecting the nece
 ssities of professional training. Tolerant pluralism is already present in
  science education to a surprising extent\, and we can strengthen it\, and
  also introduce interactive pluralism.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 2\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR