What is Kuhn’s Paradigm Shift?
Kuhn refers to Thomas Kuhn, a science historian who provided a new meaning to the term “paradigm” as it applies to a specific period in time. For Kuhn, a paradigm represented some sort of a formula, model, or template in finding scientific evidence and solutions regarding a wide variety of subjects. In the scientific community, a paradigm serves as an example for future researchers and scientists in determining the origin, value, and details of many concepts. A scientific paradigm gives the researcher a guide on what things are to be checked and evaluated and what questions are to be asked in relation to a particular concern or subject. A scientific paradigm also involves the formula on how arguments and questions are to be formulated and/or structured and how the resulting ideas are to be interpreted. In this context, a scientific paradigm is deemed like a mold that the next generation of scientists will just follow or use as a guide in discovering other things.
Using the details above with regards to paradigms, Kuhn’s interpretation of a paradigm shift revolves around the idea that a certain paradigm may be transformed successfully into another form of paradigm as it develops over time. Sciences that are considered mature and stable are capable of changes and developments that literally shift from the original concept into a new one. The area of physics for example provided several concepts in which the paradigm of a specific period has shifted into another form of paradigm due to advancements in knowledge and technology.
With Kuhn’s interpretation of scientific paradigm shifts as it relates to the present times, much of the scientific community was affected with change on perceiving what is considered standard and normal science. This particular “change of view” among the scientific and academic communities is considered a “paradigm shift” in itself as it involves the evolution of man’s perception towards one idea that may seem stable at one time but could still change and form into another idea over time.