ILOILO SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY MODULE 2

GE 7 SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY LESSON 4

PARADIGM SHIFT AND
SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

Kuhn's Paradigm and Climate Change

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tasVTgZc9Gw

For many years, scholars believe that the history of science was linear, a rational
progression characterized by the accumulation of knowledge.

It took an American physicist and historian of science, Thomas Kuhn to turn that
understanding on its head. In 1962 Kuhn published a book called The Structure of
Scientific Revolutions, that claimed the development of scientific discovery was not
linear but cyclical. Kuhn believed that science was punctuated by revolutions that
signalled major shifts in scientific understanding. He claimed that this cycle had a
recognizable structure that was characterized by successive periods of normal and
extraordinary science. What did Kuhn mean, when he wrote that science is cyclical?
Just as scientific evolution is dynamic and constantly changing, so too is the earth we
live on. The characteristics of Kuhn scientific cyclical cycle can be compared to the
environmental changes that happen on earth.

During the last ice age, the Earth's temperatures stayed relatively constant. This
can be compared to Kuhn so-called normal phase of science. The period in the cycle
where a scientific model of understanding is followed. Kuhn calls this model a paradigm,
and he argues that in this phase, experiments and discoveries are made, but the
paradigm is not challenged just as the climate in the ice age remained largely
unchanged.

Then, a slight change in the Earth's orbit resulted in a dramatic rise in

temperature, the glaciers began to melt. This shift in the Earth's orbit was the catalyst
for a massive environmental change. In Kuhn cycle, this is the point when a scientist
conducts an experiment that disproves the currently accepted paradigm. Just as the ice
begins to melt, the old model of scientific understanding begins to collapse, it's a crisis
point. With a composition of Earth's atmosphere altered, the weather becomes
increasingly turbulent. In Kuhn’s cycle, we've reached the extraordinary phase, which is
equally unsettled. Scientists are all trying to find a new set of rules to move forward with,
a revolution is underway.

After a while, the earth begins to settle and life adapts to this new climate. This is
the final stage in Kuhn cycle, where a new paradigm is discovered and a new set of
scientific rules can be constructed. Scientists will then start to develop their experiments
and the next cycle begins. Kuhn’s theory in the structure of scientific revolutions had
widespread effect, that reached further than just scientific circles.