April 2014 Lunchtime Abstracts & Details

::: Why the Scientific Revolution Wasn't a Scientific Revolution, and Why it Matters to Kuhn
Daniel Garber
Princeton University, Dept. of Philosophy
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
12:05 pm, 817R CL

Abstract: The standard master narrative of a scientific revolution in the sixteenth through the eighteenth century has been challenged in recent years. Various arguments have been used to undermine the standard story that the Aristotelian philosophy of the schools was undermined by the so-called “new philosophy” in the early modern period. But interestingly enough, a new master narrative hasn’t yet emerged. In my talk, I would like to propose a different way of thinking about the changes that happened in the period. On my view, what is central is a large and diverse group of thinkers who were called “novatores”, “innovators,” mostly by their enemies. In my talk, I would like to explore this category of thinkers, who, from our point of view, had little in common besides the fact that they opposed the Aristotelian philosophy of the schools. The consideration of this group suggests a conception of scientific change rather different from the Kuhnian model of a scientific revolution.