Revolution in Science: ,

A lengthy and well written exploration of the concept of revolutions in science, this book is partly historiography and partly an analysis of scientific revolutions. Are there scientific revolutions? If so, how are they identified? How have conceptions of scientific revolutions changed over time? What features do such revolutions exhibit? How do modern conceptions of scientific revolutions differ from older conceptions? What does revolution mean in this context or in other contexts? All these topics are examined. Cohen's approach is largely chronological narrative of these topics starting with the Scientific Revolution of early modern Europe. Much of this narrative is very well done and this book has some very nice and concise descriptions of major scientific developments. The discussion of the Scientific Revolution, Cohen's specialty, is particularly good. Analytically, however, this book is a bit disappointing. Cohen does articulate some ideas about how scientific revolutions occur but these are largely commonsense inferences. His criteria for identifying scientific revolutions essentially boil down to retrospective recognition of importance, not any structural analysis.