Pinto de Oliveira, J. C. (2024) Historiography, Teleology, and Kuhn’s Last Writings. [Preprint]

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Abstract

The issue that immediately draws attention in Kuhn’s posthumous book is his rehabilitation of Whig or ‘old’ historiography of science (OHS), after the attacks made against it since Structure and even in previous works. In the present article, I discuss this question in the context of the distinction I propose between teleology and Whig historiography. I sustain that teleological selection is not a characteristic of the OHS, but of historiography of science in general. The OHS is called Whig because it is strictly teleological, that is, it does not conceive the necessity, after teleological selection, of constructing a narrative based on the issues specific to the historical agents selected by it, as is the practice of the NHS. This perspective allows for a better understanding of the relations between the OHS and the NHS and I hope it can contribute to a qualification and a first assessment of the ‘act of grace’ that Kuhn grants to the OHS or Whig history.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Pinto de Oliveira, J. C. jcpinto@unicamp.br
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Historical Sciences General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science General Issues > Philosophers of Science
Depositing User:	J. C. Pinto de Oliveira
Date Deposited:	07 Mar 2024 03:15
Last Modified:	07 Mar 2024 03:15
Item ID:	23178
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Historical Sciences General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science General Issues > Philosophers of Science
Date:	6 March 2024
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/23178

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