Thomas Samuel Kuhn (1922–1996) was an extremely influential philosopher of science. His best-known work is his 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. In this book, he provided a drastically new understanding of the discipline of science, and how it changes over time.
Kuhn uses his book to introduce the paradigm, a concept fundamental to how he makes sense of science. He defines a paradigm as a scientific framework based on widely accepted theories and methods. In order for something to be a paradigm, it must have two important characteristics. The first is that the framework must be “unprecedented” enough to attract a significant group of scientists who prefer the framework to the existing alternatives (Kuhn 1996, pp. 10). The second is that the framework must be “sufficiently open-ended,” in order to allow space for scientists to solve problems and make investigations within the boundaries of the framework (Kuhn 1996, pp. 10). So what the heck does this mean? Basically, a paradigm must:
Okay, that’s great and all, but how would scientific progress work under this paradigm framework? Where’s Kuhn going with this? I’m so glad you asked. Kuhn saw the discipline of science take place in a sort of flow, beginning with pre-paradigm science and moving towards a cycle of conducting normal science, discovering a new paradigm, then conducting normal science under that new paradigm. Rinse, wash, repeat. To understand more, go to the next page.
