Thomas Kuhn:

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

Group 1
Amartya Zilpe
Suyash Mishra
Prachet Mishra
Puneet Kumar
Vaibhav Goel
Sushant Kumar

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On 20th March , 2020, Google
Doodle was published
honouring the life and work of
Ignaz Semmelweis. What is the
particular contribution that the
images are referring towards?

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In 1983, Barry Marshall and
Robin Warren submitted their
findings to the Gastroenterological
Society of Australia, but the
reviewers turned their paper down,
rating it in the bottom 10% of
those they received that year.

The paper was about the role of H.

Pylori in causing stomach
infections. What did Barry Marshall
do to gain scientific support for his
theory?

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This image is a critical
caricature of which
scientific development?

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Are Scientists
Critical?

Popper would say “Yes!”

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Are Scientists Critical?
We often think they are
Scientists have a penchant for cold hard
evidence
That is exactly why scientists are critical &
that science is successful
As science doesn’t take anything for
granted, we are able to identify errors/
flaws seamlessly
As science doesn’t take anything for
granted, we are able to identify errors/
flaws seamlessly
Yeah, okay, we get it. It’s a tacit understanding. Where are we heading exactly?
• These ideas were deeply embedded in our
conception of Science popularised by none
other than Karl Popper
• According to Popper’s falsificationism
scientists are always busy trying to prove
their own theories wrong. They are very
critical indeed. (excluding Pseudo-scientist)
• Thus, the population at large fell in love
with the idea that being “Critical” is like a
definition of a Scientist.
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Thomas
Kuhn
American Physicist

Wrote extensively on the history

of Science

Radically different views on what

makes science unique

Major contribution include the

concepts of “Paradigm Shift”

His work has tremendous influence

on Sociology

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 The Structure of Scientific Revolution
Pre-Paradigmatic Science

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STRUCTURE OF SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION

Chapter 2 THE ROUTE TO NORMAL SCIENCE

Normal Science Chapter 3 THE NATURE OF NORMAL SCIENCE

NORMAL SCIENCE AS PUZZLE SOLVING
Chapter 4
THE PRIORITY OF PARADIGMS
Chapter 5
Chapter 6 ANOMALY & THE EMERGENCE OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES

Transition Chapter 7 CRISIS & THE EMERGENCE OF SCIENTIFC DISCOVERIES

Chapter 8 THE RESPONSE TO CRISIS

Chapter 9 THE NATURE & NECESSITY OF SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTIONS

Chapter 10 REVOLUTIONS AS CHANGES OF WORLD VIEW

Scientific Chapter 11 THE INVISIBILITY OF REVOLUTIONS

Revolutions Chapter 12 THE RESOLUTION OF REVOLUTIONS
PROGRESS THROUGH REVOLUTIONS
Chapter 13
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KUHN’s PARADIGM (1/2)

Kuhn pondered and developed upon “Whether scientists are generally critical about everything?”

Normal science is by
Methods
definition that phase of a
scientific discipline when there
Scientific PARADIGM is a well-functioning
Concepts
Discipline paradigm, i.e. a paradigm that
the scientists in that discipline
Theories are confident about.

Paradigms consist of things, that scientists don’t just take for granted, but that they don’t even want
1 to be critical about.

What is mentioned above is a good thing. Essentially, if scientists are critical all the time, scientific
2 progress would be thwarted.

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KUHN’s PARADIGM (2/2)

HOW IS PARADIGM USEFUL? APPLICATION IN BUSINESS EVOLUTION

Create avenues for inquiry DVD

Rentals
Formulating questions

Define areas of relevance

Streaming
Select methods of
examination

Paradigms gain their status because they are more successful than their competitors in solving a few
problems that the group of practitioners has come to recognize as acute

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    The Nature of Normal Science

HOW IS PARADIGM USEFUL? HOW IS PARADIGM USEFUL?

Paradigms gain status by Experiments and observations have

1 solving problems
Determination
shown that the paradigm reveals the
of scientific
nature of things
fact
2 Normal Science has limited vision
Nature facts/observations that can be
Matching of compared to paradigm predictions to
3 Encourages in-depth nature study  facts with align theory and nature
theory

4 Paradigm solves scientific puzzles Exhausting scientific fact-gathering

and establishing quantitative laws In
Articulation of
this phase, scientists don't question
Theory
5 What questions are left to ask? the paradigm. They're indifferent. The
other phases?
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     Pre-Paradigmatic Phase

•Every scientific discipline starts out without any shared concepts,

theories, and methods​

•Individual scientists in the pre-paradigmatic phase do

very different things since there are no shared concepts, theories,
and methods​

•Pre-paradigmatic science is not a unified discipline with

clear standards and shared assumptions

•This stage of science isn’t productive because scientists can’t

collaborate and build upon each others’ ideas.

•Thus, it is desirable that one set of ideas or theories predominate,

as this facilitates further development.

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Paradigms don't last forever !

Scientists start to work within a paradigm that they no longer question, which means they can finally
work together to solve complex problems.

Anomaly Crisis Phase

• A problem within the paradigm that scientists are
at presently unable to solve
• Popper considers anomaly as a ‘Falsification’
proving the theories wrong
• But Kuhn doesn't consider anomalies as a problem
for a scientific paradigm as long as they can be
resolved.
• Number of anomalies keeps growing, and scientists
have almost no luck solving them.
• A phase when scientists start doubting their own
paradigm.
• They ponder if it should be modified and become
interested in new ideas, theories, approaches, and
concepts.

How will the crisis be resolved ?

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Scientific Revolution & Paradigm shift

• Some of the most significant anomalies within the current

paradigm are resolved putting an end to the crisis
OR
• Emergence of a new paradigm
• A new set of theories concept and methods that promises to solve
some of the most important anomalies
• Old paradigm gets abandoned and the new paradigm becomes
institutionalized as the dominant one
• The transition to a new paradigm results in the fourth phase - “A
Scientific Revolution”. Classical Mechanics to Relativistic
Mechanics

‘a noncumulative developmental episode in which an older paradigm is replaced in whole

or in part by an incompatible new one’ 

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Scientific Revolution as Political Revolution

Growing sense Aim to One camp Inability to

of disagreement change defends and share a
among relevant another forms universe of
members institutions new order discourse.

Things become a bit more controversial when Kuhn starts talking about scientific progress and
what he calls incommensurability.

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Incommensurability

Traditional picture of scientific progress

As time goes on, scientists, find out more true facts and more true theories, and these
get added to the building of science. That’s what is the traditional picture of scientific
progress.

• Good Science • Bad Science

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Incommensurability

Let’s take the example of Galileo Vs Aristotle

• Both had different ideas of what a good science looks like

• Since there is no ahistorical criteria, it is not possible to have a
criterion to evaluate the paradigms.
• There cannot be a rational justification outside the paradigm.
• Incommensurability literally means:
• “not-together-measurable”

Incommensurability was disputed by the critics of Kuhn,

And it still a subject of debate.
Galileo vs Aristotle

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THANK YOU

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