Thomas Kuhn's essay The Structure of Scientific Revolutions has had an overwhelming impact upon academics from various fields, creating a virtual paradigm industry. Authors have frequently had recourse to Kuhn's book, applying insights into the structure and development of the sciences to nonscientific fields. This essay presents a critical review of Kuhn citation in the music-theoretic literature, first reviewing similar citation analyses in the humanities and the social sciences for comparison. While much of the Kuhn citation is problematic, music scholars are found to sin less broadly than those in other fields. After reviewing some of the salient distinctions between scientific and nonscientific endeavors, some of Kuhn's insights into science are found to clarify an issue in the history of music theory, namely the nature of the succession from figured-bass theory to the formulations of J. P. Rameau.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.21231 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Creators | Lefcoe, Andrew. |
| Contributors | Caplin, William (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Faculty of Music.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001654948, proquestno: MQ50536, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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