3 ms·
First I ever heard of Kuhn was in the margin notes that came back from my teacher on a sociology essay about something or other. I was 17 and was very pleased t
by andybak 8y ago
First I ever heard of Kuhn was in the margin notes that came back from my teacher on a sociology essay about something or other. I was 17 and was very pleased to find out that my random musings were backed up by this chap with proper credentials.
Wish I still had that essay. I'd love to know if I had magically discovered Kuhn's thesis independently at the age of 17 - or as is more likely - spouted some vagueness that resembled his ideas if you squinted enough...
- dredmorbius 8y agoDiving through dusty corners of numerous fields I'm finding many of my lunatic ravings have established precedent with pedigree. I find it validating. There are few truly novel ideas, and yet too, few which truly emerge into public consciousness, and many of those are themselves wrong (or at least gravely flawed), or greatly misunderstood. Often because they've been misrepresented. Keep on thinking and reading!
- salty_biscuits 8y agoThat old saying "a month in the lab can save you a few hours in the library"
- alexpetralia 8y agoThis is interesting. I feel the reverse would also seem quite sensible.
- dredmorbius 8y agoThere's a give and take between theory and practice, though thats really not what we're discussing here. Though the notion that bad theory, uninspected or unquestioned, can lead to bad practice. Alchemists and astrologers were both exceptionally empirical. Vetruvius's De Archiectura is a fascinating mix of pragmatic advice and really shitty causal explanations.
- dredmorbius 8y agoI totally misread your comment, my apologies. I like that. (Though ... it's also got its pitfalls. And there's the whole notion of explicit vs. tacit knowledge and learning.)