Structure of Scientific Revolutions
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The purpose of this research is to examine whether the actual history of science regarding the theory of evolution bears out Thomas S. Kuhn's thesis of the structure of scientific revolutions as following patterns of discovery, development of a paradigm, the emergence of anomalies producing crisis, and the development of new paradigms, all of which lead to a shift in the overall scientific world view. The plan of the research will be to set forth the historical-scientific concept in which Darwin's theory of evolution arose, and then to explore the details of theoretical development that appear to reflect elements of Kuhn's frame for analyzing scientific revolutions. As appropriate, both scientific and what might be termed the extra-scientific elements of prevailing culture will be cited, with a view toward showing that the emergence of an evolutionary world view had implications for and extended from the scientific community and into the community of society at large. A clear understanding of how evolution came to be regarded as an appropriate scientific paradigm as a result of the work of Darwin and others of like mind is best arrived at with some understanding of the scientific and social culture into which the theory was thrust. In other words, it is useful to examine the character of scientific thought that had the effect of positioning evolution as revolutionary. In England, where evolution was to make its appearance as an important theory in the 1850s, there was,
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. [was] a "flash of light, which to a man who has lost himself in a dark night, suddenly reveals a road, which, whether it takes him straight home or not, certainly goes his way . . . My reflection, when I first made myself master of the central idea of the 'Origin of Species,' was, 'How extremely stupid not to have thought of that!' I suppose that Columbus' companions said much the same . . . The facts of variability, of the struggle for existence, of adaptation to conditions, were notorious enough; but none of us had suspected that the road to the heart of the species problem lay through them, until Darwin and Wallace dispelled the darkness" (Sagan, 1980, p. 28).
The second condition is discussed by Kuhn in terms of the development of devices and experiments that might illustrate details of a scientific theory. For Darwinian evolution, this would be most analogous to the process of carbon-dating of fossils, artifacts, stones, and the like, which arose some years after the evolutionary paradigm appeared, but which presumed the viability of a theory that explained the long life of earthly nature in terms of eons. Kuhn's third condition, which relates to a full range of experimental trials aimed at explaining and clarifying det
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Kepler Newton, Darwin Wallace, Thomas Kuhn's, Industrial Revolution, Social Darwinists, Lamarck Cuvier, Origin Species, Designer Designer, Gilded Age, Thomas Huxley, natural world, natural selection, scientific community, sagan 1980, darwin's theories, theory evolution, lowenberg 1941, evolutionary paradigm, world view, survival fittest, pack bully subdue, bush 1950 11, scaffolding american mind, york random house, living natural world,
Approximate Word count = 3758
Approximate Pages = 15 (250 words per page)
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