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MENTAL MODEL · M13221

The Incommensurability of Scientific Theories

The Incommensurability of Scientific Theories
TechnicalHigh supportScientific Methodology
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Updated 2026-09-10

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INTRODUCTION

English translation pending.

CORE DEFINITION

Incommensurable originally means that two magnitudes have no common unit of measurement, as with the side and diagonal of a square. Around 1962, Thomas Kuhn and Paul Feyerabend borrowed the mathematical notion to describe the relation between successive scientific theories: old and new theories lack a shared standard of measurement and cannot be compared item by item.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

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- Assess paradigm change: resist scoring a new theory by the old theory's standards and mistaking incomparability for backwardness. - Question progress narratives: ask whether the meaning of terms has shifted, and whether progress can be cumulative convergence on truth. - Use indirect measures: compare rival theories by translatability and explanatory power when no common yardstick exists.

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The side and diagonal of a square cannot be divided by a single common unit and can only be expressed by irrational numbers. By analogy, if a theory's central terms, references, and standards of evaluation change with the paradigm, old and new theories share no measuring language, and progress cannot be stated simply as cumulative approximation to truth.

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Source support: Explicit

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    plato.stanford.eduhttps://plato.stanford.edu/entries/incommensurability/ZH · Explicit
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