Paradigms

Theories that survive comparison with reality, and that have sufficient generality, become
paradigms, foundational precepts by which scientific fields are defined. Examples include
General Relativity15 and Quantum Mechanics16 in physics, evolution by natural selection17 in
biology, and plate tectonics18 in geology. Paradigms have these properties:
• They associate a scientific field (example biology) with a falsifiable scientific theory (example
evolution by natural selection). • They forge a consensus between researchers about the meaning
of a field and the prevailing state of knowledge. • They inspire research efforts meant to support,
modify or contradict prevailing theories. In the face of new empirical evidence, scientific fields
sometimes replace one paradigm with another in what is known as a paradigm shift19, but at any
particular time all scientific fields are defined by paradigms, precepts supported by tested theories
and evidence. If new evidence falsifies a field’s paradigms, and if no replacement is found, that
field ceases to be a science – example astrology.
https://arachnoid.com/scientific_paradigm/resources/scientific_paradigm.pdf

Where Does a Paradigm Come From?

Kuhn was interested in how the overarching theories we have of reality itself influence the
models and theories we make about reality within that paradigm.

A paradigm dictates:

 what is observed and measured

 the questions  we ask about those observations
 how  the questions are formulated
 how  the results are interpreted
 how  research is carried out
 what equipment is appropriate

Many students who opt to study science do so with the belief that they are undertaking the most
rational path to learning about objective reality. But science, much like any other discipline, is
subject to ideological idiosyncrasies, preconceptions and hidden assumptions.

In fact, Kuhn strongly suggested that research in a deeply entrenched paradigm invariably ends
up reinforcing that paradigm, since anything that contradicts it is ignored or else pressed through
the preset methods until it conforms to already established dogma.
The body of pre-existing evidence in a field conditions and shapes the collection and
interpretation of all subsequent evidence. The certainty that the current paradigm is reality itself
is precisely what makes it so difficult to accept alternatives.

Though Kuhn focused on the sciences, his observations about paradigms apply to other
disciplines. Foucault was famous for his dissection of discourse, which can be understood as the
language and symbols used to cement a paradigm. Many modern historians are able to talk
cogently about paradigms of the past – naturally an easier task once they are no longer in those
paradigms!

https://explorable.com/what-is-a-paradigm

In his first book, The Copernican Revolution (1957), Kuhn studied the development of the
heliocentric theory of the solar system during the Renaissance. In his landmark second book, The
Structure of Scientific Revolutions, he argued that scientific research and thought are defined by
“paradigms,” or conceptual world-views, that consist of formal theories, classic experiments, and
trusted methods. Scientists typically accept a prevailing paradigm and try to extend its scope by
refining theories, explaining puzzling data, and establishing more precise measures of standards
and phenomena. Eventually, however, their efforts may generate insoluble theoretical problems
or experimental anomalies that expose a paradigm’s inadequacies or contradict it altogether. This
accumulation of difficulties triggers a crisis that can only be resolved by an intellectual
revolution that replaces an old paradigm with a new one. The overthrow of Ptolemaic cosmology
by Copernican heliocentrism, and the displacement of Newtonian mechanics by quantum physics
and general relativity, are both examples of major paradigm shifts.

Kuhn questioned the traditional conception of scientific progress as a gradual, cumulative

acquisition of knowledge based on rationally chosen experimental frameworks. Instead, he
argued that the paradigm determines the kinds of experiments scientists perform, the types of
questions they ask, and the problems they consider important. A shift in the paradigm alters the
fundamental concepts underlying research and inspires new standards of evidence, new research
techniques, and new pathways of theory and experiment that are radically incommensurate with
the old ones.

Kuhn’s book revolutionized the history and philosophy of science, and his concept of paradigm
shifts was extended to such disciplines as political science, economics, sociology, and even to
business management. Kuhn’s later works were a collection of essays, The Essential Tension
(1977), and the technical study Black-Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity (1978).

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-S-Kuhn#ref168964
The definition of a paradigm is a widely accepted example, belief or concept.

1. An example of paradigm is evolution.

2. An example of paradigm is the earth being round.

1. a pattern, example, or model

2. an overall concept accepted by most people in an intellectual community, as those
in one of the natural sciences, because of its effectiveness in explaining a complex
process, idea, or set of data

2. an example of a declension or conjugation, giving all the inflectional forms of a word

www.yourdictionary.com/paradigm

In science and philosophy, a paradigm /ˈpærədaɪm/ is a distinct set of concepts or thought

patterns, including theories, research methods, postulates, and standards for what constitutes
legitimate contributions to a field.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradigm