ABSTRACT
This chapter provides Thomas Kuhn's arguments and sketches an alternative approach to understanding the history of science, an approach that affirms the freedom and the moral responsibility of the scientist to pursue objective truth in a self–conscious, methodical manner. An understanding of the development of science can utilize the knowledge we have of a scientist's moral character. In The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Kuhn does not merely undermine the epistemological foundations of scientific objectivity, he undermines its moral foundations as well. Scientific conduct is not immune from moral considerations – nor is science itself uninfluenced by human virtue. The chapter provides initial grounds for employing a more individualist, albeit not atomistic or Hobbesean, approach to the history of science. One consequence of this approach is that periods of crisis in science can be seen as moral challenges to those who face them.
