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First Look at Historical Science
Thomas Kuhn completed his doctorate in physics at Harvard University in 1949. He went on to teach an undergraduate class in humanities. His lectures were centered on the historical case studies of science. This was a significant step in his career due to the fact that this was his first real exposure to the study of science throughout history. While it may have seemed like an ordinary teaching job at the time, it would lead to his most famous work. The theory of the paradigm shift. -
Moving to Berkley
In the late 1950’s, Thomas Kuhn left Harvard and by 1961 became a full-time professor at Berkley University. There, he was introduced to the works of Ludwig Wittgenstein, a philosopher of language and mathematics, and Paul Feyerabend, a philosopher of science. Studying their work, Kuhn noticed that they changed their view on philosophy throughout the course of their careers. Their views of philosophy and science played a role in the development of Kuhn’s theories. -
"The Structure of Scientific Revolutions"
In 1962, Kuhn published his theory of the paradigm shift. This theory states that the different stages of science in history can be characterized by different world views. In other words, science is influenced by our culture, religion, race, gender, and other non-scientific factors. When a problem is left unanswered, sometimes it takes a new train of thought to solve the issue. This leads to a “shift” in the paradigm. -
Different Senses
Like all theories, paradigm shifts faced criticism and various interpretations. Even Kuhn critiqued his own work. In 1969, he felt that he had used the word “paradigm” in two different senses. One being a very broad, sociological notion shared by the members of the scientific community; the second being narrower, described as an “exemplar”. I think that this means there are different levels of paradigm shifts. Some are accepted on a larger scale than others.