The lack of an account of rationality in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions was a lacuna which Thomas Kuhn acutely felt. In this paper, I argue that Herbert Simon＇s notion of ＂satisficing＂ provides a formally ...The lack of an account of rationality in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions was a lacuna which Thomas Kuhn acutely felt. In this paper, I argue that Herbert Simon＇s notion of ＂satisficing＂ provides a formally well-developed and empirically well-established theory of rationality that fits well with Kuhn＇s general characterization of science. I start by considering two rival interpretations of the problem of Kuhnian rationality and introduce Simon＇s notion of satisficing. In Section 3, I show how satisficing can be used to interpret paradigm, change, rational theory-choice, relativism, and progress. On this account, Kuhnian scientists are not irrational. Rather they employ the same computational mechanism which allows humans to play chess.展开更多
文摘The lack of an account of rationality in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions was a lacuna which Thomas Kuhn acutely felt. In this paper, I argue that Herbert Simon＇s notion of ＂satisficing＂ provides a formally well-developed and empirically well-established theory of rationality that fits well with Kuhn＇s general characterization of science. I start by considering two rival interpretations of the problem of Kuhnian rationality and introduce Simon＇s notion of satisficing. In Section 3, I show how satisficing can be used to interpret paradigm, change, rational theory-choice, relativism, and progress. On this account, Kuhnian scientists are not irrational. Rather they employ the same computational mechanism which allows humans to play chess.
