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Article: The Boston Globe David Warsh Column.(Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
- Article date:
- December 4, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Dec. 3--If Sigmund Freud was the central cultural figure in the first half of the 20th century (for having introduced the concept of the "unconscious" into everyday life), then perhaps the dominant figure in the second half was a retiring historian of science named Thomas Kuhn.
Haven't heard of him? That means you probably didn't go to college before, say, 1970. Don't know his work? Of course you do. Kuhn (pronounced coon) introduced the word "paradigm" into everyday language. Moreover, there is an interesting symmetry between the two. The sense of personal responsibility that Freud took away from humankind, Kuhn in large measure succeeded in giving back.