The history of world civilization is a history in shifts in bodies of knowledge and worldview as much as a shift in cultures or regimes. The theories and philosophy of Thomas Kuhn revolve around his concept of scientific paradigms and his view of how science progresses. Kuhn viewed scientific progress as a cyclical and continuously evolving discipline with three stages of evolution that repeat and evolve: normal science, crisis, scientific revolution. Normal science is the generally accepted framework, theories or shared understanding between scientists within a particular discipline. Normal science represents a period of stability in which scientists trained under the dominate theories of the time continue to refine and enhance the main theories or paradigms that have led to a period of stability. When enough experimentation reaches conclusions that differ or are anomalous to the generally accepted paradigms, a period of crisis results. Further experimentation leads to a new round of normal science through scientific revolution. Thus, the three stages cycle and evolve while it is the general paradigms that are accepted through experimentation that lend stability to normal science. KuhnÆs view of paradigms saw scientific practices that are accepted as leading to models. From these models spring traditions of scientific research that one community or another acknowledges for a period of time. Such models serve as the foundation for further scientific practice and experimentation as anomalies surface within the cyclical and ongoing process.
Paradigms serve the function of enabling individuals within a specific scientific community to share professional communication and relative judgments. The paradigm is an accepted model or framework that is shared by members of a particular scientific practice. Examples of paradigms would be DarwinÆs theory of evolution and Newtonian mechanics. In a sense, Kuhn is defining the scient...