Kuhn vs. Popper: The Struggle for the Soul of Science is a 2003 book by the sociologist Steve Fuller, in which the author discusses and criticizes the philosophers of science Thomas Kuhn and Karl Popper. The book was published by Columbia University Press.

Summary

Fuller uses the 1965 meeting between the philosophers Thomas Kuhn and Karl Popper, in which they discussed the philosophy of science, as a point of departure to discuss how their respective philosophies have been received by the media, the public, and scholars.

Reception

Kirkus Reviews called it a "succinct yet in-depth inquiry into a significant philosophical issue". In the "Journal of Critical Realism" the book was defined as "smart, engaging and well written but also (...) skates along the surface of the subject matter". The Journal "Nuncius" said that the book's aim "...is to invite readers to a critical examination of the wide ranging sociological and cultural implication of ideas, with particular emphasis on their consequences in time". The philosopher Rupert Read called the book worthless, and wrote that it presented an over-simplified and distorted view of both Popper and Kuhn. The Economist wrote that the book was not thorough enough to be convincing. The mass circulation US magazine Popular Science made the book 'Book of the Month' in February 2005.

Reviews