Thomas Kuhn's Paradigm and its Application to Modern Politic
When Thomas Kuhn released his book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, in 1962, he instigated his own revolution within the history of science. Dramatically altering the manner in which science was viewed, Kuhn established the concepts of paradigms, anomalies, crises, and revolutions as the central operating mechanisms of scientific progress. He radically diverged from the previous belief that science was cumulative. Instead, he placed less emphasis on the accumulation of evidence and gave more credence to intellectual fights over theory. James Franklin compares Kuhn's paradigm theory to the classic novel, the Morte d'Arthur. Current scientific institutions are the "peaceable order and its aging king, their virtue undermined by internal corruption, falling to the challenge of the vigorous and bloodthirsty young challenger" (Franklin, 2000). Though this is certainly a more exciting image of science than that of white-coated intellectuals intently charting the contents of test tubes, Kuhn is in reality more modest in the scope of his revolutions. Kuhn views them as often relevant only to those scientists in the field and sometimes almost invisible. However, what is truly exciting is extending the application of paradi
That would be admitting that the Ptolemaic paradigm had been correct. Was the political revolution truly over? Had one side achieved a complete and total victory? Revolutions in paradigm theory are not sudden events. An anomaly is an irregularity, a deviation from the norm set by the paradigm. This analogy will prove useful in understanding how paradigms affect our interpretations of what we perceive and in understanding how two competing paradigms vie for their community's allegiance while hindered by their different languages. He has produced a dilemma due to his declaration that paradigm theory is not cumulative. In the resolution of revolutions, Kuhn queries, what causes a group to abandon one paradigm of normal science for another? The scientist has until now been a puzzle-solver not a paradigm-tester, but when faced with anomalies in the midst of a crisis, the scientist may examine both paradigms, compare them to nature, and indeed make the shift. The final issue Kuhn takes up in Structure is that of scientific progress through revolution. Public opinion, as expressed in individual political beliefs, is solidly developed by adolescence. Likewise, scientific revolutions begin when the existing paradigm fails to function adequately in its guidance of the study of nature. In part, the irregular deck of cards example is useful here. "To the extent that the book portrays scientific development as a succession of tradition-bound periods punctuated by non-cumulative breaks, its theses are undoubtedly of wide applicability" (Kuhn, 1996, p.
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