Is the idea of paradigms usefu
Forty years ago Thomas Kuhn's book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962), was published. Few books create such a profound impression, especially in their authors' lifetimes. It is difficult now to think of an academic discipline, whether in the natural or in the social sciences, that has not been touched by it from history and philosophy to sociology and theology (Hollinger, 1973). Some of its concepts and insights - the notion of a 'paradigm' for example, or the contrast between 'normal' and "revolutionary" science - have passed into the language of academic discourse, and now colour and shape the way in which scholars think and talk about their specialisms (Perry, 1977).Although such discussions among each of the fields are interesting in their own right, the debate amongst the sociologist is of principal concern here. There have been numerous attempts to employ Kuhn's scheme of scientific structure to analyse the development of sociology and the hope here is to distinguish how useful - in light of some of these attempts - Kuhn's ideas are here.Before describing and investigating Kuhn's conception of paradigmatic science, it would be helpful to briefly set the scene in a wider context by looking at pre-paradig
" (Bird, 2000)What was equally important for Kuhn however, was not just the cognitive framework of the paradigm, but the structural aspects which collectively held the paradigm together, specifically in the presupposition on an integrated community of scientists which shares a consistent body of belief espousing consensus and oneness in the investigation. Instead it was to be explained by historical and sociological factors. Explaining unintended developments with cultural selection theory. Kuhn's theory of scientific revolutions andcognitive psychology. (1973) Reason and Commitment, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. The structure of scientific revolutions. In other words identify which puzzles are worth working on. However, it was Kuhn's thesis that the success that physical scientists have enjoyed over the past two centuries was a direct result of this paradigmatic structure. As such many of them seem to miss the fundamental cognitive and structural aspects of Kuhnian paradigms.
Common topics in this essay:
Kuhn1962 Scientific,
Sadi Carnot,
Imre Lakatos,
Additionally Ritzer's,
Scientific Revolutions,
Bushell Burgess,
Johnston's Intellectuals,
Overall Kuhn's,
Martin McIntyre,
Thomas Kuhn's,
university press,
cambridge university press,
history science,
social sciences,
scientific revolutions,
cambridge university,
lakatos musgrave,
kuhn 1970,
bird 2000,
press cambridge,
kuhn's concept,
growth knowledge cambridge,
knowledge cambridge university,
university press cambridge,
structure scientific revolutions,
|
Acceptance Essays
