Study Guide: Chapter 1 — A Role for History

Core Concept

History of science, read in its own terms, refutes the image of science as linear fact-accumulation. Discarded frameworks (Aristotle's physics, phlogiston) were rigorous science, not error — so science develops by displacement, not just addition.

Key Terms

Textbook image · Whig history · historiographic revolution · internalist history

Case Summary

Kuhn, a physics PhD student, reads Aristotle expecting "bad Newton" — and discovers a coherent alien system answering different questions. The shock becomes the book.

Application Checklist

• [ ] Identify the "inevitable progress" story your field tells about itself
• [ ] Read one primary source from a tradition your field considers refuted
• [ ] List assumptions the defeated tradition would find strange in your work

Self-Test

1. Why can't discarded theories be dismissed as unscientific? What follows if they aren't?
2. What is Whig history and why does it distort?
3. What did Kuhn's Aristotle experience demonstrate about evaluating past frameworks?