Eclectic-paradigm Books

This is the book that coined the term "paradigm." It describes the nature of scientific progress in general, a path that is not smooth, but one with false turns and dead ends. Occasionally a new theory comes along that will get science back on the right track, but never without political wars, personality clashes, and crises. Kuhn's writing style is very clinical and academic.

Forty six years after the first publication this book is still relevent to the philosophy and practice of science. Many current practitioners and theorists would do well to read it, as much of science is still stuck in dysfunctional paradigms. All science especially cognitive science is overdue for a major paradigm shift if it is to progress. A revolution is afoot in the works of Rob Ornstein, David Bohm, Benjamin Libet,Ian Stevenson and the like.

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas S. Kuhn, originally published in 1962, is more relevant today than ever before. Anyone with an open mind, craving the most plausible answers to many scientific puzzles, will greatly enhance their understanding of how science actually works if they read this ground-breaking work.

I first read the book in 1972 as part of a Philosophy course that explored human thought over the centuries relative to concepts such as "Space, Time, Cause and Motion."

Kuhn, more than any other author in that series, truly opened my mind to understand the historical process whereby "science" takes place.

His most compelling analysis reveals plainly that scientific thought evolves not as an accumulation of mere facts over time, but rather is a function of how well proposed theories in a given time explain observable phenomena.

As long as a the established scientific model, or "paradigm" better explains or "solves the puzzle" in connection with given a given phenomenon, the practitioners of "normal science" zealously continue to pursue increasingly more explanations for what may be going on in nature or the universe under the banner of that particular "school of thought."

However, inevitably, anomalies that do not fit or support the current paradigm begin to creep in...eventually adding up to such a degree that the veracity of the theory begins to be called into question by a few bold "out of the box" thinkers.

Nevertheless, the community of steadfast adherents to the existing paradigm will tend to vehemently oppose, mock or question the credentials of anyone proposing an alternative theory or explanation.

Here is where the scientific "revolution" begins to emerge. Practitioners of what Kuhn calls "revolutionary science" conclude the increasing failures of the established theory require a re-examination of various assumptions...ultimately leading to a rival theory which, when reaching the point where it better explains observable phenomena, than the established view, triggers a "paradigm shift."

The new theory increasingly gains supporters, until it eventually dislodges the previously accepted model.

So why is Kuhn's book a must read? In today's world of science there is neither a shortage of controversies nor of anatomies in term of many established theories within the scientific community.

1. A variable speed of light cosmology has been proposed independently by John Moffat and the two-man team of Andreas Albrecht and João Magueijo to explain the horizon anomaly of cosmology.

The idea is that light once traveled many times faster in the distant past, and thus distant regions of the expanding universe have had time to interact since the beginning of the universe, thereby proposing as an alternative to cosmic inflation.

2. Several anomalies continue to rear their heads in connection with The Theory of Evolution (absence of transitional life forms and many others) and, true to form, the established scientific community tends to defend and protect its position, typically scoffing at those who question their key assumptions.

Kuhn's masterful work, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, enables bold thinkers, who choose not to handicapped by the protectionism and often closed-minded tenants of today's "scientific establishment," to better recognize the transition we are in today...and to support the search for alternative models that indeed will usher in another round of paradigm shifts...and a new scientific revolution.

John A. Fallone

This book is widely used for doctoral programs in social sciences. Overall, it's a well-written book, but the author uses the term "paradigm" for several different concepts. If you can find a good summary of this book, just go for that one.

I enjoy the reading. I have used Kuhn as a reference throughout grad school to justify my thoughts on leadership paradigm shifts. Kuhn's contribution had four positive elements: a) Mechanism of crisis: precipitation and resolution, b) Analogy of the historicity of science with evolution c) that science rewrites its own history, and d) psychology of paradigm shifts; that the paradigm is not completely defined by explicit prescription but also by a system of practices that are not fully articulated. In summary, Change is difficult. Human Beings resist change. However, the process has been set in motion long ago and we will continue to co-create our own experience. Kuhn (1996) states, "awareness is prerequisite to all acceptable changes of theory" (p. 67). It all begins in the mind of the person. What we perceive, whether normal or metanormal, conscious or unconscious, are subject to the limitations and distortions produced by our inherited and socially conditional nature.