kuhn: paradigms and normal science

• Overview of Kuhn’s model of science

• Kuhn’s description of the first mode:

normal science• What is a paradigm?• What role does a paradigm play

in normal science?




in normal science?

PHIL 160PHIL 160PHIL 160PHIL 160

Accretion (as in narrow inductivist view): body of knowledge like a snowball rolling down a hill.

Popperian view: eliminate ever more false hypotheses.

Either way, assumes scientists are always engaged in the same kind of activity.

Accretion (as in narrow inductivist view): body of knowledge like a snowball rolling down a hill.

Popperian view: eliminate ever more false hypotheses.

Either way, assumes scientists are always engaged in the same kind of activity.


Normal SciencePeriods of Scientific Revolution

Need to understand how these modes differ from each other and how they are connected to each other.

What processes move scientists from normal science to a revolution?

Normal SciencePeriods of Scientific Revolution

Need to understand how these modes differ from each other and how they are connected to each other.

What processes move scientists from normal science to a revolution?PHIL 160PHIL 160PHIL 160PHIL 160

Narrow sense: a particular achievement which suggests a way to investigate the world (e.g., an experiment, a formula, etc.)

Broad sense: a package of ideas and methods which make up a world view and a way of doing science

Narrow sense: a particular achievement which suggests a way to investigate the world (e.g., an experiment, a formula, etc.)

Broad sense: a package of ideas and methods which make up a world view and a way of doing science


Paradigms are vital because they provide the framework (shared set of assumptions) for normal science.

Paradigms are vital because they provide the framework (shared set of assumptions) for normal science.


THEORYTHEORY


THEORYTHEORY• What kind of

stuff is in the world

• What kind of stuff is in the world


THEORYTHEORY• What kind of

stuff is in the world

• What kind of stuff is in the world• How that stuff evolves over time and interacts

• How that stuff evolves over time and interacts


THEORYTHEORY

PARADIGMPARADIGM• What kind of stuff is in the world




THEORYTHEORY

PARADIGMPARADIGM

• Ideas about stuff• Ideas about stuff• What kind of stuff is in the world




THEORYTHEORY

PARADIGMPARADIGM



• Ideas about behaviors• Ideas about behaviors• How that stuff evolves over time and interacts



THEORYTHEORY

PARADIGMPARADIGM

• Methodology• Methodology






THEORYTHEORY

PARADIGMPARADIGM

• Methodology• Interesting questions

• Methodology• Interesting questions






THEORYTHEORY

PARADIGMPARADIGM

• Methodology• Interesting questions• What counts as a

good explanation

• Methodology• Interesting questions• What counts as a

good explanation






• No agreement about fundamentals

• End up debating fundamentals rather than figuring out how to explain, predict, control phenomena of interest

• Reads like philosophy (which Kuhn says is a bad thing if you’re trying to do science)!

• No agreement about fundamentals

• End up debating fundamentals rather than figuring out how to explain, predict, control phenomena of interest

• Reads like philosophy (which Kuhn says is a bad thing if you’re trying to do science)!


• No more debate about fundamentals

• Energy focused on using tools from the paradigm to describe, model, or create new phenomena

“Puzzle-solving”

• No more debate about fundamentals

• Energy focused on using tools from the paradigm to describe, model, or create new phenomena

“Puzzle-solving”


• All is fire• All is water• All is air• Only atoms and empty space

(Democritus)• Infinitely many stuffs

(Anaxagoras)• Four-element system

(Empedocles)

Lots of choices, lots of debate.

• All is fire• All is water• All is air• Only atoms and empty space

(Democritus)• Infinitely many stuffs

(Anaxagoras)• Four-element system

(Empedocles)

Lots of choices, lots of debate.PHIL 160PHIL 160PHIL 160PHIL 160


The Four ElementsThe Four Elements

HOTHOT WETWET

COLDCOLDDRYDRY

FIREFIRE

AIRAIR

WATER

WATER

EARTHEARTH


HOTHOT WETWET

COLDCOLDDRYDRY

FIREFIREAIRAIR

WATERWATER

EARTHEARTH

AIRAIRWATERWATER

HEATHEAT


HOTHOT WETWET

COLDCOLDDRYDRY

FIREFIREAIRAIR

WATERWATER

EARTHEARTH

Easier to change shape (like water)



HOTHOT WETWET

COLDCOLDDRYDRY

FIREFIREAIRAIR

WATERWATER

EARTHEARTH


Easier to change shape (like water)More likely to crumble than change shape (like earth)

More likely to crumble than change shape (like earth)

• Which phenomena can be explained

• Which phenomena can be controlled

• Which data are important• What does a good explanation

look like.• What counts as a puzzle• What counts as a good solution

• Which phenomena can be explained

• Which phenomena can be controlled

• Which data are important• What does a good explanation

look like.• What counts as a puzzle• What counts as a good solution


• There should be a solution!

Big puzzle for Four-element theory: how to transform lead into gold?

• There should be a solution!

Big puzzle for Four-element theory: how to transform lead into gold?





in normal science?• Difference between puzzles and

problems?




in normal science?• Difference between puzzles and

problems?PHIL 160PHIL 160PHIL 160PHIL 160

kuhn: paradigms and normal science

Education

science phil

shared paradigm phil

world phil

theory phil

theory paradigm ideas

new paradigm

resistant puzzles phil

kind of stuff