History and Philosophy of Science - A Unified Discipline

A Unified Discipline

While it may seem an umbrella term, as described above, people in the branch of HPS consider this fusion of history of science with philosophy of science to be perfectly natural. Others see it as an historical anachronism, resulting from the misguided approach of the logical positivists. The origin of this hybrid approach is reflected in the career of Thomas Kuhn. His first permanent appointment, at the University of California, Berkeley, was to a position advertised by the philosophy department, but he also taught courses from the history department. When he was promoted to full professor in the history department only, Kuhn was offended at the philosophers' rejection because "I sure as hell wanted to be there, and it was my philosophy students who were working with me, not on philosophy but on history, were nevertheless my more important students". This attitude is also reflected in his historicist approach, as outlined in Kuhn's seminal Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962, 2nd ed. 1970), wherein philosophical questions about scientific theories and, especially, theory change are understood in historical terms, employing concepts such as paradigm shift.

"History of science without philosophy of science is blind ... philosophy of science without history of science is empty"