WHO'S GOT A PARADIGM?
SOME REFLECTIONS
ON KUHN'S CONCEPT OF PARADIGMS IN SCIENCE
WITH EXAMPLES


Gerald T. Davidson, PhD.
Revised
January 8, 2008



Thomas Kuhn's ideas on revolutions in science have often been misunderstood, and have not always been welcome among scientists. I offer some thoughts that I hope might clarify the topic, and answer some objections.

Yes Kuhn's concept of paradigm shifts does contain within it the notion of progress. Yes, the concept does permit the existence of an objective reality; physics isn't all just a social construct.

This document originates in a talk on paradigms that has been presented in several universities and research laboratories.




CONTENTS
  1. INTRODUCTION
    How Kuhn's thesis has been intererpreted differently in the social and physical sciences.

  2. WHAT IS A THEORY?
    The role of theory is often misunderstood, both among scientists and in the popular perception. The theory is not the paradigm. Popper provided a prescription for a useful theory.

  3. THE HIERARCHICAL ORDERING OF THEORIES, PROCEDURES, AND PARADIGMS
    Philosophy, social interactions, procedures, and models all occupy different ranks in an ordering of metalanguages of science. The conceptual level is perhaps the most susceptible to overturn or Paradigm Shift.

  4. PARADIGM SHIFTS
    When difficulties in one part of the structure of a paradigm can no longer be patched, a Paradigm Shift is likely.

  5. WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH THE CURRENT PRACTICE OF PHYSICS?
    Some thoughts on the relationship between inductive method, deductive method, and exploratory method.

  6. AN EXAMPLE OF THE ROLE OF SOCIAL CONVENTIONS, BLACK BOXES IN PHYSICS
    What Kuhn called patches are often treated as "black boxes." A notorious example is the concept of moving field lines in solar and plasma physics.

  7. AN EXERCISE FOR THE STUDENT: THE HOMOPOLAR GENERATOR
    An example illustrating that the concepts of field lines; and showing that the simple picture of Faraday induction don't always work.

  8. WRAPPING IT UP
    Conclusions.






This web site has been created and maintained by Gerald Davidson,   http://www.onemain.com/~gdavids/.