Laudan's most influential book is Progress and Its Problems (1977), in which he charges philosophers of science with paying lip service to the view that "science is fundamentally a problem-solving activity" without taking seriously the view's implications for the history of science and its philosophy, and without questioning certain issues in the historiography and methodology of science.
In his seminal work Progress and Its Problems (1977), Laudan criticizes philosophers of science for endorsing the idea that "science is fundamentally a problem-solving activity" without fully engaging with its implications for scientific history and philosophy, or addressing certain issues in the historiography and methodology of science.