![whats a paradigm shift whats a paradigm shift](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/91/9b/e2/919be2277af5635fae7fdeaf4a269df6.jpg)
3Īnother example of scientific achievement outside of Kuhn’s paradigms is Chinese astronomy and time-keeping, which first originated around 1600 BC and resulted in lunar calendar technology being used as early as 1200 BC. This method is historically attributed to Frenchman Pierre de Fermat in 1629, which many feel “lacked epistemological basis”, as the same formulation appeared much earlier in Indian mathematician Jyesthadeva’s Yuktibhasa. The bulk of scientific knowledge is a product of Europe…No other place and time has supported the very special communities from which scientific productivity comes.” 2īala’s 2006 book The Dialogue of Civilizations in the Birth of Modern Science outlines many examples of non-European scientific achievement, including the mathematical method of parabolic curve integration. “nly the civilizations that descend from Hellenic Greece have possessed more than the most rudimentary science. There are many scientific achievements that disrupt Kuhn’s over-simplified theory of paradigm progression, and Kuhn’s critics, such as philosopher Arun Bala, accuse him of Eurocentrism, possibly substantiated by Kuhn’s own writing: The quote suggests history is a subjective account written by those in power, and it coincides with a major flaw in Kuhn’s theory of scientific progress, in that it is based on the most popular and well-noted scientific achievements of his day. German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel stated “World History is a tribunal that judges the World” 1 in his Lectures on the Philosophy of World History. These limitations include: the revisionist nature of history, non-scientific prejudices that dictate “normal science”, and examples of scientific progress that serve as exceptions to Kuhn’s paradigm model. Although Kuhn’s theory is stimulating for philosophical debate, there are limitations to his theory of scientific progress.
![whats a paradigm shift whats a paradigm shift](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h-rXhS0J9kM/TyeP4rdublI/AAAAAAAABmw/xusQ5rrcmBg/s1600/education+paradigm+shift.png)
He defines this framework of knowledge as a “paradigm”, where scientists try to answer questions during a period he calls “normal science”. Kuhn theorized that scientific progress is non-linear and occurs through periods in which science operates under the same focus, equipment, terminology, empirical methodology, and usually time period. Thomas Kuhn caused a major paradigm shift in the philosophy of science. A paradigm is a framework of knowledge in a scientific area that can change inexplicably through a revolution, such as the shift from Newton’s physics model to Einstein’s. Figure 1: An illustration of American philosopher Thomas Kuhn’s cycle of scientific progress based on paradigms.