Kuhn, Popper, the Military-Industrial Complex and the Techno-scientific Revolution

This essay focuses on the political dimension of the debate between Thomas Kuhn and Karl R. Popper. While Popper’s analysis of the development of science was coupled with his political philosophy, Kuhn tended to conceal the political implications of his views. Popper, Lakatos and Watkins stressed the political implications of any view on scientific development, whereas Kuhn tried to avoid them. The essay explains the difference between the two approaches in the light of the different cultural climates in the USA and Britain. In the USA, philosophers of science (consciously or not) tended to eliminate political commitment from their philosophical views. On the contrary, in post-war Europe liberal intellectuals struggled with Marxist scholars for hegemony in the progressive camp. The relationship between history and philosophy of science and the apparent lack of interest in technology are among the facets of Kuhn’s and Popper’s philosophies that may be better understood by looking at the political dimension of philosophy of science during the Cold War.