normal science<\/a> at all. Instead, as we have already seen, normal science ultimately leads only to the recognition of anomalies and to crises. And these are terminated, not by deliberation and interpretation, but by a relatively sudden and unstructured event like the gestalt switch.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nAccording to Kuhn, paradigm shifts in science do not happen through gradual study or interpretation. Rather, they happen when there is a sudden understanding or change in perception. He likens this process to a gestalt shift<\/em> in psychology: when your perception of something suddenly changes\u2014like a picture that you can see as either a rabbit or a duck (but never both at once). <\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cAlmost always the men who achieve these fundamental inventions of a new paradigm have been either very young or very new to the field whose paradigm they change. And perhaps that point need not have been made explicit, for obviously these are the men who, being little committed by prior practice to the traditional rules of normal science, are particularly likely to see that those rules no longer define a playable game and to conceive another set that can replace them.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nAny new paradigm starts with one or, at most, a few people. In Kuhn’s view, these people tend to be either young or at least new to the field, which makes them less committed to the current methods and rules, and therefore, less resistant to change than their older colleagues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe competition between paradigms is not the sort of battle that can be resolved by proofs.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nAccording to Kuhn, replacing one paradigm with another is not a matter of proving that the new paradigm is beyond doubt correct. It\u2019s impossible to test a paradigm in every way, under every circumstance. Therefore, many scientists would say that convincing the community to adopt a new paradigm is about showing that, given the available evidence, it is more likely to be correct than the other options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThough the world does not change with a change of paradigm, the scientist afterward works in a different world.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nMany will say that what changes with a paradigm is only how scientists interpret their observations, not what <\/em>they see. In Kuhn’s view, however, a paradigm shift<\/a> changes everything: the observations made, the data collected, and the conclusions drawn. Given that the observations, data, and interpretations are all different, it seems fair to say that, after a paradigm shift, science is now happening in a different and incommensurable world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What are some noteworthy Thomas Kuhn quotes? Which quotes and passages highlight his most influential ideas about the history and philosophy of science? Thomas Kuhn was an American physicist, historian, and philosopher of science who is best known for his groundbreaking 1962 classic The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. The following Thomas Kuhn quotes encapsulate his revolutionary ideas about the history and philosophy of science. Here are four Thomas Kuhn quotes and what they mean.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":18692,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,160],"tags":[198],"class_list":["post-25407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-science","tag-the-structure-of-scientific-revolutions","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\n
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