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Synchronism vs. Asynchronism of Method Employment (view source)
Revision as of 03:30, 10 March 2018
, 03:30, 10 March 2018no edit summary
Kuhn’s notion of incommensurability first tabled the discussion of the synchronism or asynchronism of method employment. According to Thomas Nickles, the incommensurability of Kuhnian revolutions involves a wholesale change in goals as well as methodological standards and values.[[CiteRef::Nickles (2017b)]] Thus, in Kuhn’s system method employment necessarily depends upon theory acceptance, from which it follows that methods and theories change synchronously.[[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)|p. 151]]
Laudan challenged this Kuhnian idea of wholesale change.[[CiteRef::Andersen and Hepburn (2018)]] For him, research is conducted within the historical tradition of its given domain.[[CiteRef::Laudan (1977a)]] Traditions are comprised of general assumptions about entities and processes. Problem solving, usually concerning anomalies, drives scientific change. Unlike Kuhn, Laudan holds that anomalies can be addressed by methodological or ontological changes instead of theory modifications.[[CiteRef::Andersen and Hepburn (2018)]]
Contrary to Kuhn, for whom “change is simultaneous rather than sequential”,[[CiteRef::Laudan (1984a)|p. 69]] Laudan regards method employment as separable from theory acceptance. In his view, methodological dicta can change without any new theories being accepted.[[CiteRef::Laudan (1984a)|p. 74]] A paradigm shift is not necessary for methods to change.[[CiteRef::Laudan (1984a)|p. 81]] Consequently, methods and theories can change be asynchronous.