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(2015) Kuhn's structure of scientific revolutions, Dordrecht, Springer.
From theory choice to theory search
the essential tension between exploration and exploitation in science
Rogier De Langhe, Peter Rubbens
pp. 105-114
Early in his work Kuhn identifies a tension in science between conservativeness and innovation in theory development; that is, scientists face uncertainty in choosing between the exploitation of an existing theory or the creation of a new one. Kuhn suggests that theory choice should be based on heuristics involving common scientific virtues; however, he does not specify how those values could lead a decentralized group of scientists to collectively produce successful science. In this chapter, we introduce a model for how this process might take place. We shift the focus of rational theory choice from selecting the best among a given set of theories to finding a balance between selecting among given theories and searching for new ones. Here we show that the local interactions of rational scientists balancing the exploitation and exploration of theories results in a very robust pattern characterized by a succession of tradition-bound periods punctuated by non-cumulative breaks.
Publication details
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-13383-6_8
Full citation:
De Langhe, R. , Rubbens, P. (2015)., From theory choice to theory search: the essential tension between exploration and exploitation in science, in W. J. Devlin & A. Bokulich (eds.), Kuhn's structure of scientific revolutions, Dordrecht, Springer, pp. 105-114.