In identifying that the 'essential tension' is the balance between conservative and innovative approaches in the development of knowledge - tried-and tested or new directions - Kuhn pointed out that these two attitudes are both appropriate. This study adds to this picture the social and psychological dynamics that underpin any such balancing.

Autorentext
FRED D'AGOSTINO is Professor of Humanities at The University of Queensland, Australia. He co-edits Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE) and previously co-edited the Australasian Journal of Philosophy. His most recent books are Free Public Reason (1996) and Incommensurability and Commensuration (2003). He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and holds Australian Research Council and Australian Learning and Teaching Council grants for work, respectively, in social epistemology and tertiary curriculum development.

Inhalt
Acknowledgements Getting It Together Essential Tensions The Facilitative Possibilities The Consistent Pattern Motivating Diversity A Culture of Enquiry The Division of Labor in Communities of Enquiry Some Communities of Enquiry Naturalizing the Essential Tension References Index