kuhn: paradigms and normal science
DESCRIPTION
First Kuhn lecture in Phil 160 ("Philosophy of Science") at San Jose State University.TRANSCRIPT
• Overview of Kuhn’s model of science
• Kuhn’s description of the first mode:
normal science• What is a paradigm?• What role does a paradigm play
in normal science?
• Overview of Kuhn’s model of science
• Kuhn’s description of the first mode:
normal science• What is a paradigm?• What role does a paradigm play
in normal science?
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Accretion (as in narrow inductivist view): body of knowledge like a snowball rolling down a hill.
Popperian view: eliminate ever more false hypotheses.
Either way, assumes scientists are always engaged in the same kind of activity.
Accretion (as in narrow inductivist view): body of knowledge like a snowball rolling down a hill.
Popperian view: eliminate ever more false hypotheses.
Either way, assumes scientists are always engaged in the same kind of activity.
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Normal SciencePeriods of Scientific Revolution
Need to understand how these modes differ from each other and how they are connected to each other.
What processes move scientists from normal science to a revolution?
Normal SciencePeriods of Scientific Revolution
Need to understand how these modes differ from each other and how they are connected to each other.
What processes move scientists from normal science to a revolution?PHIL 160PHIL 160PHIL 160PHIL 160
Narrow sense: a particular achievement which suggests a way to investigate the world (e.g., an experiment, a formula, etc.)
Broad sense: a package of ideas and methods which make up a world view and a way of doing science
Narrow sense: a particular achievement which suggests a way to investigate the world (e.g., an experiment, a formula, etc.)
Broad sense: a package of ideas and methods which make up a world view and a way of doing science
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Paradigms are vital because they provide the framework (shared set of assumptions) for normal science.
Paradigms are vital because they provide the framework (shared set of assumptions) for normal science.
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THEORYTHEORY
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THEORYTHEORY• What kind of
stuff is in the world
• What kind of stuff is in the world
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THEORYTHEORY• What kind of
stuff is in the world
• What kind of stuff is in the world• How that stuff evolves over time and interacts
• How that stuff evolves over time and interacts
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THEORYTHEORY
PARADIGMPARADIGM• What kind of stuff is in the world
• What kind of stuff is in the world• How that stuff evolves over time and interacts
• How that stuff evolves over time and interacts
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THEORYTHEORY
PARADIGMPARADIGM
• Ideas about stuff• Ideas about stuff• What kind of stuff is in the world
• What kind of stuff is in the world• How that stuff evolves over time and interacts
• How that stuff evolves over time and interacts
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THEORYTHEORY
PARADIGMPARADIGM
• Ideas about stuff• Ideas about stuff• What kind of stuff is in the world
• What kind of stuff is in the world
• Ideas about behaviors• Ideas about behaviors• How that stuff evolves over time and interacts
• How that stuff evolves over time and interacts
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THEORYTHEORY
PARADIGMPARADIGM
• Methodology• Methodology
• Ideas about stuff• Ideas about stuff• What kind of stuff is in the world
• What kind of stuff is in the world
• Ideas about behaviors• Ideas about behaviors• How that stuff evolves over time and interacts
• How that stuff evolves over time and interacts
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THEORYTHEORY
PARADIGMPARADIGM
• Methodology• Interesting questions
• Methodology• Interesting questions
• Ideas about stuff• Ideas about stuff• What kind of stuff is in the world
• What kind of stuff is in the world
• Ideas about behaviors• Ideas about behaviors• How that stuff evolves over time and interacts
• How that stuff evolves over time and interacts
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THEORYTHEORY
PARADIGMPARADIGM
• Methodology• Interesting questions• What counts as a
good explanation
• Methodology• Interesting questions• What counts as a
good explanation
• Ideas about stuff• Ideas about stuff• What kind of stuff is in the world
• What kind of stuff is in the world
• Ideas about behaviors• Ideas about behaviors• How that stuff evolves over time and interacts
• How that stuff evolves over time and interacts
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• No agreement about fundamentals
• End up debating fundamentals rather than figuring out how to explain, predict, control phenomena of interest
• Reads like philosophy (which Kuhn says is a bad thing if you’re trying to do science)!
• No agreement about fundamentals
• End up debating fundamentals rather than figuring out how to explain, predict, control phenomena of interest
• Reads like philosophy (which Kuhn says is a bad thing if you’re trying to do science)!
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• No more debate about fundamentals
• Energy focused on using tools from the paradigm to describe, model, or create new phenomena
“Puzzle-solving”
• No more debate about fundamentals
• Energy focused on using tools from the paradigm to describe, model, or create new phenomena
“Puzzle-solving”
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• All is fire• All is water• All is air• Only atoms and empty space
(Democritus)• Infinitely many stuffs
(Anaxagoras)• Four-element system
(Empedocles)
Lots of choices, lots of debate.
• All is fire• All is water• All is air• Only atoms and empty space
(Democritus)• Infinitely many stuffs
(Anaxagoras)• Four-element system
(Empedocles)
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The Four ElementsThe Four Elements
HOTHOT WETWET
COLDCOLDDRYDRY
FIREFIRE
AIRAIR
WATER
WATER
EARTHEARTH
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HOTHOT WETWET
COLDCOLDDRYDRY
FIREFIREAIRAIR
WATERWATER
EARTHEARTH
AIRAIRWATERWATER
HEATHEAT
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HOTHOT WETWET
COLDCOLDDRYDRY
FIREFIREAIRAIR
WATERWATER
EARTHEARTH
Easier to change shape (like water)
Easier to change shape (like water)
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HOTHOT WETWET
COLDCOLDDRYDRY
FIREFIREAIRAIR
WATERWATER
EARTHEARTH
Easier to change shape (like water)
Easier to change shape (like water)More likely to crumble than change shape (like earth)
More likely to crumble than change shape (like earth)
• Which phenomena can be explained
• Which phenomena can be controlled
• Which data are important• What does a good explanation
look like.• What counts as a puzzle• What counts as a good solution
• Which phenomena can be explained
• Which phenomena can be controlled
• Which data are important• What does a good explanation
look like.• What counts as a puzzle• What counts as a good solution
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• There should be a solution!
Big puzzle for Four-element theory: how to transform lead into gold?
• There should be a solution!
Big puzzle for Four-element theory: how to transform lead into gold?
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• Overview of Kuhn’s model of science
• Kuhn’s description of the first mode:
normal science• What is a paradigm?• What role does a paradigm play
in normal science?• Difference between puzzles and
problems?
• Overview of Kuhn’s model of science
• Kuhn’s description of the first mode:
normal science• What is a paradigm?• What role does a paradigm play
in normal science?• Difference between puzzles and
problems?PHIL 160PHIL 160PHIL 160PHIL 160