Paradigm Shifts

S. Redden

The work of T. S. Khun

• The idea of the paradigm shift was developed by T. S. Khun in his PhD thesis, which was later published in 1962 as, ‘The Structures of Scientific Revolutions’.

• Kuhn never actually used the term paradigm shift in his book, instead he used the term revolutions

• A paradigm in science is a way of seeing the world according to a certain framework

Traditional View of Science

The acquisition of scientific knowledge was thought of as being a continuous accumulation

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

• Khun proposed that science goes through revolutions e.g. the shift from Newtonian mechanics to Einsteinian relativity

• These revolutions are tempestuous occurrences in which scientists have to change their way of viewing the world. These changes are strongly resisted at first, until the weight of evidence becomes too much

Paradigm Shift

• A revolution (paradigm shift) occurs when people within a specific field adopt a new basis for practice. This occurs when a normal problem resists the repeated efforts of the most able practitioners revealing an anomaly that will not go away (Khun 1996)

Paradigm Shifts

The accumulation of scientific knowledge goes through paradigm shifts, or revolutions, where there is a jump in the scientific knowledge acquired

The manner in which science progresses can be characterised as follows

Pre-science

Normal science

Crisis

Revolution

New normal science

Activity

• What examples of paradigm shifts can you think of in science?

• Can you find any examples of any paradigm shifts in the other subjects that you study?

“Rational thought is interpretation according to a scheme which we cannot

escape” (Nietzsche)• During a period of normal science (a

paradigm) experiments are selected and conducted in accordance with the governing principles of that paradigm. The way in which the data is acquired and interpreted will depend on that paradigm

• Kuhn stresses that normal scientists are not trying to test the paradigm in which they operate, but conduct their research within the limits set (Okasha, 2002)

The Death of Logical Positivism

• The logical positivists were a group of philosophers who met in Vienna during the 1920s and the early 1930s. They were termed the Vienna Circle and came under the leadership of Moritz Schlick

• The logical positivists wanted to make philosophy more scientific. They believed that scientific questions could be settled in an objective way; that experimental testing allowed a scientist to compare his/her theory directly with the facts (Okasha, 2002)

The Death of Logical Positivism

• The development of quantum mechanics where the observer influences the experiment ended the influence the Vienna Circle had over philosophy

References

• Chalmers A. F. (1999) What is This Thing Called Science? Buckingham: Open University Press

• Khun T. S. (1996) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press

• Okasha S. (2002) Philosophy of Science: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press