Thomas Kuhn’s “The structure of scientific revolutions” is one of the most influential and most cited works in the 20th century. However, Kuhn’s definition of a paradigm is usually applied in natural science fields, rather than in social science and the field of communication, for not only Kuhn himself did not intend to involve these fields in his work, but many social science scholars also often misunderstand and misapply Kuhn’s work (Berkelaar, 2008). This paper will explore Kuhn’s view of a paradigm and see how it can apply to the field of communication.
Simply put, a paradigm has two characteristics. First, it is the theoretical background knowledge that is generally accepted by competent scientists in a given field. Second, it is used to solved puzzles, or research problems. A paradigm is the backbone behind theories, through which we can reflect how good a theory is. Theories and methods of looking at reality are paradigms. Kuhn sees paradigms as basic and incontrovertible assumptions about the nature of the discipline (Kuhn, 1996). Paradigms are frames of reference we use to organize our observations and reasoning. Generally speaking, a paradigm encompasses theories, and an effective paradigm will bring forth an effective theory. Therefore, it is safe to say by examining a paradigm, we can understand the organization of the theory guided by that paradigm. Paradigms gain their status because they are more successful than their competitors in solving a few problems that the group of practitioners has come to recognize as acute. For Kuhn, a paradigm can be competent if it’s accurate, consistent, simple, and fruitful. At the same time, he also states that even a competent paradigm can be replaced by a new one when science revol...
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...e, because he has nothing to guide him what to be seen and how to look around. Kuhn’s concept of paradigm has a significant impact on how we think about disciplines, science and the revolution of knowledge. Upon closer examination and comparison with what happens in social science fields and communication discipline, we have found many similarities and shared characteristics with Kuhn’s view on paradigms. That is to once again emphasize the relevance of Kuhn’s work to social science, and particularly, my communication field. Exploring a discipline from Kuhn’s paradigm notion, we have seen how knowledge grows throughout history and how we can make it progress, more mature, and more thoroughly acknowledged. Thus we can hope to work better with scientists in our field to achieve more consensus, greater application of knowledge, to make the discipline emerges even more.
Kuhn’s theory of paradigm shift. Mr. Bawazer offers a strong case. As an example from Mr. Kuhn’s theory we can understand how the different dog breeds evolved from the wolf. Depending on what type of breed you want from a hunting dog to a family dog breed, you can alter the DNA by letting the alpha dog to continue to breed or not. Next, we can realized that everything in this planet contains molecules or genes that can be altered. We also recognize that paradigm science and paradigm shift is a circular state not a steady line. This means that we have to adjust to what is going on the present time and expand from it, but always remember how it was done in the past. Thomas Edison well said “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” The only way to change science is to continue to try without being afraid of failing. If different engineers and industries unites forces to promote the use of natural resources rather than inventing new ones and also with the help of the government of going “green” will definitely help the environment to prevent
A theoretical perspective or paradigm is a set of ideas that attempt to guide your thinking and explain viewpoints. Within the field of sociology, there are many paradigms. These include structural-functionalism, social conflict, feminism, symbolic interactionism, and postmodernism. As a female who appreciates a viewpoint outside of the standard male outlook, my favorite theoretical paradigm is feminist theory.
I did not find myself strongly sided with any of the four paradigms. I felt that findings from any of the paradigms could provide beneficial information in different areas of education research. Constructivist researchers focus on understanding the people and the world they are studying; transformative researchers focus their work on people facing social oppression; while pragmatic researchers use both quantitative and qualitative methods to research the questions they want answered.
Kuhn states that the first stage is the pre-paradigm period, next is the normal science stage, than the crisis period, and last is the scientific revolution. The pre-paradigm stage only happens once, this is when multiple paradigms compete to target a certain problem without a consensus on which is correct. This stage evolves when the scientific community
”Theories tell how and why things work; how and why one variable is related to another. Research findings that are theory based can be place in a framework that advances science further than findings that are unconnected to formal theory.” (O'Connell, 2009, p. 33).
Jamie’s essay she shows how you can be the dominant discourse one place and the “other” in another. So the biggest question I had to answer what it possible to be the dominant discourse and the “other” to different groups of people. From my experience it is possible to be the dominant discourse and the “other”. Have you ever heard the saying it is like two sides of a coin well it is kind of like that meaning it is that easy to be the dominant discourse and turn into the “other” or visa versa. The dominant discourse is a group of people that are privileged from Einstein to the Kardashians. Einstein was not always seen as a great scientist but in today’s society he is seen as the father of technology, yes I said technology because we can trace
Paradigm was coined by KUHN (1970). A paradigm is a world view, a general perspective on the complexities of the real world.
Without theories, scientists’ experiments would yield no significance to the world. Theories are the core of the scientific community; therefore figuring out how to determine which theory prevails amongst the rest is an imperative matter. Kuhn was one of the many bold scientists to attempt to bring forth an explanation for why one theory is accepted over another, as well as the process of how this occurs, known as the Scientific Revolution. Kuhn chooses to refer to a theory as a ‘paradigm’, which encompasses a wide range of definitions such as “a way of doing science in a specific field”, “claims about the world”, “methods of fathering/analyzing data”, “habits of scientific thought and action”, and “a way of seeing the world and interacting with it” (Smith, pg.76). However in this case, we’ll narrow paradigm to have a similar definition to that of a ‘theory’, which is a system of ideas used to explain something; it can also be deemed a model for the scientific community to follow. Kuhn’s explanation of a Scientific Revolution brings to light one major problem—the problem of incommensurability.
Schaub, E. L. (1920, July). A Sociological Theory of Knowledge. The Philosopical Review, Vol. 29, No. 4, pp. 319-339. Duke University Press on behalf of Philosophical Review.
How we approach the question of knowledge is pivotal. If the definition of knowledge is a necessary truth, then we should aim for a real definition for theoretical and practical knowledge. Methodology examines the purpose for the definition and how we arrived to it. The reader is now aware of the various ways to dissect what knowledge is. This entails the possibility of knowledge being a set of truths; from which it follows that one cannot possibly give a single definition. The definition given must therefore satisfy certain desiderata , while being strong enough to demonstrate clarity without losing the reader. If we base our definition on every counter-example that disproves our original definition then it becomes ad hoc. This is the case for our current defini...
Paradigms are belief systems that establish our actions patterns, practices and thoughts. Webster Dictionary defines paradigm as "an example or pattern: small, self-contained, simplified examples that we use to illustrate procedures, processes, and theoretical points." The most quoted definition of paradigm is Thomas Kuhn 's (1962, 1970) concept in The Nature of Science Revolution, paradigm as the underlying assumptions and intellectual structure upon which research and development in a field of inquiry is based. My understanding of Kuhn’s quote is that paradigms are a set of scientific theories that are well
The paradigm posits that human actions, whether right or wrong, are a result of the perceived consequences. People will choose their actions based on the results and utility they can harness.
A theory is a way organizing and systematizing what is known about a phenomenon. It is, in fact, “a rationalized set of assumptions or hypotheses that provides a person with tools that can be utilized to explain the past and predict the future” (Johnson, 2000). Therefore, theories provide direction and when tested and supported, can assist in expanding our knowledge.
The word theory emanated from the Greek word meaning “contemplate” It has been viewed by scholars in different ways. Theory can be defined literally as an explanation of phenomena and its associations with variables that it is attempting to predict. There are no general agreed definitions of theory because scholar’s views of what constitute theory differ based on the purpose, nature and what make up of a good theory (Gelso, 2006; Harlow, 2009; Stam, 2007, 2010; and Wacker 1998). For instance, Wacker, (1998), pointed out that a theory must have four basic criteria such as conceptual definitions, domain limitations, relationship-building, and predictions. He, also, opined that for any theory to be regarded as a good theory, it must have qualities for `good ' theory, such as “uniqueness, parsimony, conservation, generalizability, fecundity, internal consistency, empirical riskiness, and abstraction, which apply to all research methods” (p.364). Stam (2010) interpreted theory as ...
According to Thomas Kuhn, who was an American physicist, historian and a philosopher of science and the first person to share this idea with the world trough his book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, "A paradigm is what members of a scientific community, and they alone, share". So in other words it is a scientific proven fact.