his first chapter contains a lot that can be usefully explored to consider Kuhn's general hypothesis of paradigms as a psycho-political model of conceptual change. These first comments about the rigid nature of normal science help to illustrate the psychological dimension. Scientists naturally scoff at ideas that lack evidence. The nature of thought means that scientists naturally elide from the observation that unproven assertions do not predict anything to the claim that unproven assertions are false. This is probably fair enough.
As far as physics is concerned, I wonder if Kuhn is like a general preparing to fight the last war? There have been no real paradigm shifts as far as I am aware within physics since Einstein. The great expansion of knowledge over the last century has occurred in a framework of stable fundamental concepts. Even areas of dispute, such as the cosmological constant, the uncertainty principle, and the nature of dark matter and dark energy, do not suggest that Einstein's fundamental discovery of the relation between space, time and mass might be incorrect.
By contrast, the earlier paradigm shift from Newton involved the rejection of the concept of absolute Euclidean space. My feeling is that we will not see a change in basic concepts of physics that alters our model of physical reality in a comparable way, simply because relativity is so much more true than either Aristotle or Newton's physics. New changes will arise in how physics interacts with other disciplines.
///////There are two different sorts of paradigm shift under discussion here, and they are easily confused with each other. A paradigm shift can either overturn or refine previous thought. The shift from geocentric to heliocentric cosmology overturned earlier views, whereas the shift from Newtonian to Einsteinian cosmology can arguably be seen as a refinement, since Newtonian mechanics remains largely valid except in extreme circumstances. I understand that this generalisation can be disputed - for example the Ptolemaic epicycle theory remains roughly accurate as a way to predict apparent planetary positions, but the general principle here is that we have seen an evolutionary progress towards a more accurate and comprehensive explanation of the nature of reality.
The current situation is that science has detected accelerating expansion of the universe as measured in galactic red shift, and the role of so called non-baryonic dark matter and dark energy. These observations have such a high level of consistency and conformity that we are on safe ground saying that any future findings will refine our model of an expanding universe rather than overturn it.
My analogy between TS Kuhn and a general fighting the last war is that paradigm theory is sometimes used to imply that everything we know through science could be wrong, just as the geocentric theory was proven to be totally wrong. I simply disagree. We should expect that new science will build upon strongly consistent predictive models such as celestial mechanics and the theory of evolution.
In religion it is another matter. We are still in a 'Ptolemaic' universe as regards our knowledge of the origins of Christianity. I fully expect a paradigm shift to produce a widespread recognition that the Gospels are entirely fiction. This is an audacious view that provides a far more comprehensive and accurate explanation of the extant evidence than the traditional account of Jesus Christ as an actual person.
his first chapter contains a lot that can be usefully explored to consider Kuhn's general hypothesis of paradigms as a psycho-political model of conceptual change. These first comments about the rigid nature of normal science help to illustrate the psychological dimension. Scientists naturally scoff at ideas that lack evidence. The nature of thought means that scientists naturally elide from the observation that unproven assertions do not predict anything to the claim that unproven assertions are false. This is probably fair enough.As far as physics is concerned, I wonder if Kuhn is like a general preparing to fight the last war? There have been no real paradigm shifts as far as I am aware within physics since Einstein. The great expansion of knowledge over the last century has occurred in a framework of stable fundamental concepts. Even areas of dispute, such as the cosmological constant, the uncertainty principle, and the nature of dark matter and dark energy, do not suggest that Einstein's fundamental discovery of the relation between space, time and mass might be incorrect.By contrast, the earlier paradigm shift from Newton involved the rejection of the concept of absolute Euclidean space. My feeling is that we will not see a change in basic concepts of physics that alters our model of physical reality in a comparable way, simply because relativity is so much more true than either Aristotle or Newton's physics. New changes will arise in how physics interacts with other disciplines.///////There are two different sorts of paradigm shift under discussion here, and they are easily confused with each other. A paradigm shift can either overturn or refine previous thought. The shift from geocentric to heliocentric cosmology overturned earlier views, whereas the shift from Newtonian to Einsteinian cosmology can arguably be seen as a refinement, since Newtonian mechanics remains largely valid except in extreme circumstances. I understand that this generalisation can be disputed - for example the Ptolemaic epicycle theory remains roughly accurate as a way to predict apparent planetary positions, but the general principle here is that we have seen an evolutionary progress towards a more accurate and comprehensive explanation of the nature of reality.The current situation is that science has detected accelerating expansion of the universe as measured in galactic red shift, and the role of so called non-baryonic dark matter and dark energy. These observations have such a high level of consistency and conformity that we are on safe ground saying that any future findings will refine our model of an expanding universe rather than overturn it.My analogy between TS Kuhn and a general fighting the last war is that paradigm theory is sometimes used to imply that everything we know through science could be wrong, just as the geocentric theory was proven to be totally wrong. I simply disagree. We should expect that new science will build upon strongly consistent predictive models such as celestial mechanics and the theory of evolution.
In religion it is another matter. We are still in a 'Ptolemaic' universe as regards our knowledge of the origins of Christianity. I fully expect a paradigm shift to produce a widespread recognition that the Gospels are entirely fiction. This is an audacious view that provides a far more comprehensive and accurate explanation of the extant evidence than the traditional account of Jesus Christ as an actual person.
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