Thomas Kuhns Paradigm and its Application to Modern Politic essays

Thomas Kuhns Paradigm and its Application to Modern Politic essays When Thomas Kuhn released his book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, in 1962, he instigated his own revolution within the history of science. Dramatically altering the manner in which science was viewed, Kuhn established the concepts of paradigms, anomalies, crises, and revolutions as the central operating mechanisms of scientific progress. He radically diverged from the previous belief that science was cumulative. Instead, he placed less emphasis on the accumulation of evidence and gave more credence to intellectual fights over theory. James Franklin compares Kuhns paradigm theory to the classic novel, the Morte dArthur. Current scientific institutions are the peaceable order and its aging king, their virtue undermined by internal corruption, falling to the challenge of the vigorous and bloodthirsty young challenger (Franklin, 2000). Though this is certainly a more exciting image of science than that of white-coated intellectuals intently charting the contents of test tubes, Kuhn is in reality more modest in the scope of his revolutions. Kuhn views them as often relevant only to those scientists in the field and sometimes almost invisible. However, what is truly exciting is extending the application of paradigm theory beyond the hard sciences to the social sciences like philosophy, history, sociology, and politics. To the extent that the book portrays scientific development as a succession of tradition-bound periods punctuated by non-cumulative breaks, its theses are undoubtedly of wide applicability (Kuhn, 1996, p. 208). At its core, paradigm theory is essentially an epistemological model, and after a discussion of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, an analogy to current American political affairs will further enlighten Kuhns concepts. Kuhns book is meticulously organized. Chapter by chapter, his conception of scientific revolutions unfolds. He begins with ...