Philosophy of Science, Network Theory, and Conceptual Change: Paradigm Shifts as Information Cascades

In Euel Elliot & L. Douglas Kiel, Complex Systems in the Social and Behavioral Sciences: Theory, Method, and Application. University of Michigan Press (forthcoming)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Philosophers have long tried to understand scientific change in terms of a dynamics of revision within ‘theoretical frameworks,’ ‘disciplinary matrices,’ ‘scientific paradigms’ or ‘conceptual schemes.’ No-one, however, has made clear precisely how one might model such a conceptual scheme, nor what form change dynamics within such a structure could be expected to take. In this paper we take some first steps in applying network theory to the issue, modeling conceptual schemes as simple networks and the dynamics of change as cascades on those networks. The results allow a new understanding of two traditional approaches—Popper and Kuhn—as well as introducing the intriguing prospect of viewing scientific change using the metaphor of selforganizing criticality.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive

External links

  • This entry has no external links. Add one.
Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

An Epistemological Study of Theory Change.Theofanis Aravanis - 2022 - Bulletin of the Section of Logic 51 (1):1-26.
Notes toward an analysis of conceptual change.Mark Bevir - 2003 - Social Epistemology 17 (1):55 – 63.

Analytics

Added to PP
2021-03-19

Downloads
582 (#49,871)

6 months
148 (#32,381)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.Thomas S. Kuhn - 1962 - Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Edited by Ian Hacking.
Fact, Fiction, and Forecast.Nelson Goodman - 1983 - Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
From a Logical Point of View.Willard Van Orman Quine - 1953 - Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Bayesian Epistemology.Luc Bovens & Stephan Hartmann - 2003 - Oxford: Oxford University Press. Edited by Stephan Hartmann.
Conjectures and Refutations.K. Popper - 1962 - Les Etudes Philosophiques 21 (3):431-434.

View all 17 references / Add more references