Abstract

Thomas Kuhn’s Structure was published in 1962. In Structure, Kuhn provides a theory of the development of scientific knowledge, arguing that the growth of knowledge in a scientific field is punctuated by periodic paradigm changes. Each new paradigm provides scientists with a new conceptual framework for understanding the world. Further, each new paradigm is incompatible with the conceptual framework that preceded it. That is, each paradigm makes different assumptions about what the world is like. For example, the paradigm in physics developed by Descartes assumed that there was no action at a distance; everything moved was moved by something in contact with it. The paradigm that replaced Descartes’ paradigm, the Newtonian paradigm, on the other hand, suggests that there is a gravitational attraction between all pieces of matter in the universe. Consequently, the Newtonian paradigm suggests that there is action at a distance. In virtue of these sorts of differences, Kuhn describes successive paradigms in a scientific field as incommensurable.

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