In Defence of Paradigm Incommensurability
- 1 January 1991
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Organization Studies
- Vol. 12 (1) , 109-127
- https://doi.org/10.1177/017084069101200107
Abstract
This paper presents a rigorous defence of paradigm incommensurability as con ceptualized by Burrell and Morgan, arguing that it is a necessary defence against scientistic authoritarianism. Two recent attacks on paradigm incommensurability are examined which, although emerging from different intellectual traditions, are both seen to imply the restoration of the authority of scientism characteristic of the postmodernism of reaction. Both critiques base their attack on the work of Kuhn but this basis is rejected on the grounds, inter alia, of a clear absence of isomorphism between the paradigmatic model of Kuhn and that of Burrell and Morgan. Finally, the paper considers the relevance of paradigm incommensur ability in the context of non-reactive postmodernism.Keywords
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