Thomas Samuel Kuhn Theory
Thomas Samuel Kuhn TheoryIntroduction
Thomas Samuel Kuhn was one of the greatest philosophers of his time and one of his greatest contributions is his theory on the structure of the scientific revolutions. This was coined in his book of 1962, ‘The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.’ This book accounted his understanding of the philosophy of science and how it evolves with time. Apparently his arguments in the book are basically embedded on the belief that science develops through stages and in its development, there are stages of stable growth which are thereafter punctuated with stages of what he coined as revisionary revolutions. This paper concurs with Thomas Kuhn’s theory and its discussion will focus on supporting the same.
Arguments in support of Kuhn’s theory
Thomas Kuhn challenged the paradigm of normal science in which science was considered to develop basically through accumulation of accepted facts or theories. In this case, there were little explanations and considerations that accounted theoretically for the scientific change. In fact, as mentioned above, science developed through addition of ‘new truths’ to the stock of ‘old truths’. It was simply correction of past errors. However, in Kuhn’s argument, science never goes through the same process of normal science but is interrupted by certain periods of revolutionary science. Kuhn’s case is quite relevant since it explains that during the revolutions in science, upon discovery of anomalies in the old paradigm, there comes a new paradigm which challenges the anomalies and at the same time advocates for a new understanding which explains the underlying concepts. He coined this as paradigm shift-movement/ change in the basic assumptions governing a particular theory of science.
Thomas Kuhn further explains that every paradigm has its own anomalies. However, these anomalies/ inconsistencies should be in acceptable levels in which case the level of significance has to be low. In the event that enough significant anomalies are attributed to a particular paradigm, the science in drawn to a state of crisis. During the stage of scientific crisis, new ideas are developed which replace the previous ones. Eventually, a new paradigm is formed thereafter gaining new followers/ subscribers. In the event that the anomalies are way beyond the acceptable levels, a revolution occurs on the particular paradigm and a new paradigm developed all together. Usually, an intellectual battle ensues between the old paradigm and the new paradigm followers.
Kuhn’s theory is also quite applicable to various scientific developments which include but not limited to the physical and social sciences. Kuhn has further backed his arguments in the ‘Copernican Revolution’ example in which case he has explained that initially, the Ptolemaic model of the heavens explained that the earth was the centre of the galaxy, however, this school of thought underwent the scientific revolution and later on gave way to the heliocentric model which explained that the sun was the centre of the solar system. Apparently, the Copernican Revolution is considered the origin of the 16th-century Scientific Revolution. Kuhn’s idea of scientific crisis is further on illustrated in this example whereby the Ptolemaic model of heavens had anomalies beyond the acceptable levels. This was the crisis the point which necessitated the emergence of new ideas which consequently replaced the Ptolemaic model with the heliocentric model of the heavens.
In conclusion, Kuhn gives an elaborate explanation on the progress of science through revolutions. He argues that problem solving is a central element of science. His arguments are consistent to a new scientific idea which requires identifying and resolving certain outstanding problems that cannot be handled in any different way. This new paradigm must be related to its predecessors and must give numerous solutions way beyond those given by the old paradigm. Kuhn further elaborates that the more recent a theory is, the better it is suited to handle scientific puzzles. Kuhn’s theory of scientific revolution is therefore quite relevant in explaining the evolution in various theories.
