Paul Thagard, “The Cognitive Science of Science: Explanation, Discovery, and Conceptual Change” (MIT Press, 2012)
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What is the cognitive science perspective on scientific revolutions?
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Welcome to New Books and Philosophy, a podcast channel of the New Books Network. I'm Carrie Figdur and I'm co host of the channel along with Robert Talise. In our bi monthly podcasts, we talk with philosophers about their ideas as expressed in their newly published books. Today's interview is with Paul Thagard, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Waterloo in Ontario. His latest book, The Cognitive Science of Science, is just out from the MIT Press. We've all heard about scientific revolutions, such as the change from the Ptolemaic geocentric universe to the Copernican heliocentric one. or from the Newtonian mechanical picture of matter in motion to the probabilistic framework of quantum mechanics.
Such changes are the meat and potatoes of historians of science and philosophers of science. But another perspective is from the point of view of cognition. Thinking about thinking is what cognitive scientists do, and the cognitive science of science is thinking about how scientists think. For example, how do scientists come up with breakthroughs? What happens when a scientist confronts a new theory that conflicts with an established one? In what ways does her belief system change and how? What factors can impede her her acceptance of a new theory? Such general concerns like these lie behind pressing issues such as global warming. For example, the idea that carbon dioxide being trapped in the atmosphere might cause global warming has been around since eighteen ninety six.
And the link between measured increases in carbon dioxide levels and human activities, such as fossil fuel burning. Uh was made in the nineteen eighties. But it still took a while for scientists to gr agree as they do today that human activity is a major cause of global warming. And there's still disagreement over whether there is any need to take costly action. Theagert presents a comprehensive discussion of some of the critical aspects of how scientists think, including the development of scientific explanations, and and theories the process of scientific discovery and creativity. And the process of change in scientific beliefs, from developing and acquiring new concepts To switching from one whole conceptual framework to another.
He defends an explanatory coherence view of belief revision. uh proposes how normativity or values can be incorporated into scientific thinking Proposes a model for explaining resistance to new scientific ideas. And even indicates why so much creative thinking goes on in the shower and during other moments of downtime. Let's turn to the interview. Hello, Paul Thagard.
Hi Carrie.
Hi. Um welcome to New Books in Philosophy.
Oh, thank you very much. I'm really happy to have a chance to chat with you about my new book.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the cognitive science perspective on scientific revolutions?
0:00–12:50
2
How does Thagard define explanatory coherence and belief revision?
12:50–24:50
3
Why do scientists accept climate‑change evidence while many politicians resist it?
24:50–36:26
4
What is the ‘motivated inference’ model and how does it explain resistance to new theories?
36:26–51:20
5
How does the combinatorial conjecture explain scientific creativity and discovery?
51:20–1:04:50
6
What does Thagard say about conceptual change, incommensurability, and Kuhn’s claims?
1:04:50–1:06:53
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from New Books in Philosophy
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