Uploaded January 2025 | Updated September 2026, 12 hours ago
Recorded as part of the CFvW Colloquium on January 22, 2025
The theories of Thomas Kuhn and Imre Lakatos and their applicability to the history of logic - Prof. Dr. Ladislav Kvasz (Czech Academy of Sciences)
Abstract:
The theories of Kuhn and Lakatos are often seen as mutually exclusive alternatives. In the talk I will try to analyze them in more detail. I will propose a classification of changes in science into four kinds of different magnitude. It will turn out, that the Kuhnian approach is suitable to the three larger of them, while the Lakatosian to the three smaller kinds. Thus the Kuhnian theory is better suitable for the analysis of largest scientific changes, while the Lakatosian is best suited for the reconstruction of the smaller ones.
In the second part of the talk I will turn to the Fregean revolution in logic and will argue that actually it was a change of the largest kind. Therefore the Kuhnian framework is best suited for its reconstruction. Then I will try to turn to the analysis of the Cantorian revolution and I will argue that it was a revolution one degree smaller than the Fregean one. Thus the Kuhnian approach is still applicable to it, but it can be reconstructed also in the Lakatosian framework, in which the Fregean revolution cannot.
Explore our colloquium schedule on our website: uni-tuebingen.de/en/research/centers-and-institutes/carl-friedrich-von-weizsaecker-center/news-and-events/carl-friedrich-von-weizsaecker-colloquium
Recorded as part of the CFvW Colloquium on January 22, 2025
The theories of Thomas Kuhn and Imre Lakatos and their applicability to the history of logic - Prof. Dr. Ladislav Kvasz (Czech Academy of Sciences)
Abstract:
The theories of Kuhn and Lakatos are often seen as mutually exclusive alternatives. In the talk I will try to analyze them in more detail. I will propose a classification of changes in science into four kinds of different magnitude. It will turn out, that the Kuhnian approach is suitable to the three larger of them, while the Lakatosian to the three smaller kinds. Thus the Kuhnian theory is better suitable for the analysis of largest scientific changes, while the Lakatosian is best suited for the reconstruction of the smaller ones.
In the second part of the talk I will turn to the Fregean revolution in logic and will argue that actually it was a change of the largest kind. Therefore the Kuhnian framework is best suited for its reconstruction. Then I will try to turn to the analysis of the Cantorian revolution and I will argue that it was a revolution one degree smaller than the Fregean one. Thus the Kuhnian approach is still applicable to it, but it can be reconstructed also in the Lakatosian framework, in which the Fregean revolution cannot.
Explore our colloquium schedule on our website: uni-tuebingen.de/en/research/centers-and-institutes/carl-friedrich-von-weizsaecker-center/news-and-events/carl-friedrich-von-weizsaecker-colloquium
