Revolution and progress in medicine
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Updated: Apr 17, 2026

Molecular Evolution of the Tre Recombinase
Published on: May 29, 2008
1Department of Philosophy, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Ave., FAO 226, Tampa, FL, 33620-7926, USA, wgoodwin@usf.edu.
Abstract:
This paper adapts Kuhn's conceptual framework to developmental episodes in the theory and practice of medicine. Previous attempts to understand the reception of Ignaz Semmelweis's work on puerperal fever in Kuhnian terms are used as a starting point. The author identifies some limitations of these attempts and proposes a new way of understanding the core Kuhnian notions of "paradigm," "progress," and "revolution" in the context of a socially embedded technoscience such as medicine.
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