The Pitfalls and Possibilities of Following Koyré: The Younger Tom Kuhn, “Critical Historian,” on Tradition Dynamics and Big History

Late in his career, Thomas S. Kuhn practiced more as a philosopher of science than as a historian of science. However, his earlier work—leading up to TheStructure of Scientific Revolutions and during the majority of his tenure in the Princeton history of science group—focused on “mapping” the shape of the history of the physical sciences and on modeling the dynamics, or “motor,” of scientific traditions. This paper examines the younger Kuhn’s excursions in map and motor design. It views Kuhn as a “critical historian,” that is, a historian who constructs explanatory categories in order to apply them to large-scale narratives, evaluation of which can suggest modification of those guiding categories.