Merton and Kuhn: The Relationship That Shaped Science Studies

This study examines the intellectual and personal relationship between Robert K. Merton and Thomas S. Kuhn, and its lasting influence on the emergence of science studies as a distinct field. While Merton is often positioned as a founder of the sociology of science and Kuhn as the architect of the modern philosophy and history of science, their correspondence and collaborations reveal a deeper and more reciprocal exchange. Drawing on archival sources, including letters, notes, and memoirs, the research demonstrates that Merton and Kuhn’s interactions shaped each other’s academic trajectories in ways often overlooked in standard narratives. Merton’s sociological frameworks helped provide Kuhn with a lens for thinking about scientific communities and norms, while Kuhn’s historical and conceptual innovations, like his articulation of paradigm, redirected Merton’s attention toward new intellectual currents. In particular, their exchanges in the 1970s show a mutual effort to resist being cast as opposites by external commentators. This study concludes that the dialogue between Merton and Kuhn was not incidental but formative, providing a connective tissue that helped establish science studies as an interdisciplinary domain bridging history, philosophy, and sociology of science.