The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is arguably one of the most influential books of the 20 th Century. The book has not only changed human perceptions of the philosophy of science but also introduced one of the most used phrases 'paradigm shift'. The phrase has been used in more than 18,300 published books, most of which are marketed by Amazon (Naughton, 2012). A search on Google gives more than 10 million hits using the term 'paradigm shift.' Likewise, Thomas Kuhn’s work is among the most cited academic work. It is, therefore, evident that the book has gained unmatched popularity not only in the corporate world but also in the educational field.
Thomas Kuhn was a physicist who single-handedly altered how people perceive humanity's organized attempt to understand the world (Rees, 2012). Initially, people viewed science as a discipline that is informed by philosophical ideas on how it should develop. The rectification of past errors made by researchers, theorists, and experimenters amounted to scientific development. Scientists were engaged in a battle towards a more significant and better understanding of the natural realm (Naughton, 2012). Kuhn, however, sought to change this understanding of scientific history.
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Kuhn's understanding of scientific progress was that discontinuities characterized scientific development. He disputed the cumulative growth in science as earlier thought by most scholars. Instead, Kuhn explained scientific development in a set of alternating phases in which specialists are plunged into in the course of scientific progress. Kuhn then proposed that in order to comprehend the development of science, it is essential to understand the intellectual structures within which researchers work (McCrum, 2016). The claims made by Kuhn in his book led to its popularity over the years.
The fundamental claim in Kuhn's book is that a series of phases characterize the development of science in any field. The first segment he called normal science phase. The stage involves a group of researchers or scientists with a common intellectual structure known as a paradigm. The intellectuals engage in solving issues raised by discrepancies between the paradigm expectations and the experimental outcomes. The inconsistencies are resolved thorough changes in the paradigm or revealing experimental errors (Naughton, 2012). If the unresolved incongruities accumulate, it reaches a point where the researchers question the intellectual structure. A phase of crisis follows where scientists try anything that would work (Rees, 2012). Explicit discontent characterizes the phase, which eventually leads to a revolutionary change in the paradigm. A new, exemplary understanding of the natural world is realized, leading to a scientific revolution.
The paradigm concept in scientific development has been used to interpret and explain concepts in different disciplines. For instance, marketers started to use the idea to explain the need for drastic changes in world-views in their clients. The concept has also been widely used in business schools to teach the radical changes that businesses need to thrive in the corporate world. Likewise, social scientists have adopted the paradigm as a means to respectability and research funding (Naughton, 2012). In economics and the banking sectors, pathological models have led to an appreciation of mathematics. Kuhn’s work also inspired the development of a new discipline, the sociology of science. The discipline allows researchers to examine scientific disciplines where science is regarded as a subculture.
The contribution of Kuhn's book in the contemporary understanding of the philosophy of science is just the tip of the iceberg. The book has made significant contributions to other areas such as the corporate world and the academic filed. The vast use of the paradigm concept in academics and the fact that the book inspired the development of a new discipline validates the claim that it is one of the most influential books of the 20 th Century.
References
McCrum, R. (2016). The 100 best nonfiction books: No 21 – The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas S Kuhn (1962). Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jun/20/100-best-nonfiction-books-all-time-thomas-s-kuhn-structure-of-scientific-revolutions-paradigm-shift
Naughton, J. (2012). Thomas Kuhn: the man who changed the way the world looked at science. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/aug/19/thomas-kuhn-structure-scientific-revolutions
Rees, M. C. (2012). The structure of scientific revolutions at fifty.
