The nature of scientific progress and the rationality of scientific
change lie at the centre of Karl Popper’s and Thomas Kuhn’s thought.
This paper provides an analysis of the Popper - Kuhn debate over those
issues; according to which, Kuhn is por
trayed as subjectivist and
relativist, while Popper emerges as objectivist and realist.
The paper is divided into three parts. Popper’s claims regarding
scientific progress and rationality are examined in Part One. It is argued
that Popper’s philosophy is inherently value-driven, while defending the
objective characteristics of scientific truth. Part Two explores Kuhn’s
conception of science, of the rationality of science and scientific progress.
Kuhn argued that knowledge is relative only to the accepted paradigm.
Part Three is taken up with a comparative discussion of the main issues
related to the Kuhn - Popper debate.
