Philosophical Analysis of Kuhn's Scientific Revolutions

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LITERATURE REVIEW

According to Deegan (2014), Kuhn is one of the most prominent philosophers of science and his
theory of structure and paradigm of scientific revolution initiated a new philosophy of science.
His work defied the prevailing notions of the progress of normal science which stated that
science is continuously evolving with the accepted facts and theories. He countered this theory
by presenting that the history of science is sporadic, which is interrupted by a new paradigm
that changes the rules of scientific research. According to him, the theories of science that are
discovered in different periods are incomparable and therefore, new theories are discovered
with the process of revolution and not evolution. This is one of the most significant works in the
history of modern science and is still debated by certain philosophers and scientists.
Richards & Daston (2016) stated that Kuhn became captivated with the process that those
theories which were held to be true are replaced by completely different theories, that are also
held to be true. He provided an example by explaining that for a very long period, it was
believed that all matters are made up of Earth, Fire, Air, and Water which seems childlike in
front of the modern theory of chemical elements that replaced it. Richards & Daston (2016)
further added that Kuhn provided certain stages of the scientific revolution. ‘Normal science’ is
the research done by scientists that are based on the scientific achievements that are
accredited by some past scientific groups that form the foundations for their further
researches. Kuhn argued that "normal science" is the experiments conducted by scientists on
the daily basis on the problems that are not yet solved but are believed to have a solution in
advance with certain efforts and resourcefulness, using existing paradigms as a guide. In the
process of experiments, certain anomalies arise that neither can be solved nor shoved off. This
lays the path for a period known as the ’crises’, where new time-methods and approaches are
practiced. One of the approaches becomes efficacious and gives birth to a new paradigm
through the process called "paradigm shift". This establishes the very essence of the scientific
revolution. The new approach or paradigm is published in books and is popularized. It becomes
a guideline for scientific experiments who believe that paradigm is the only way things should
be done until the whole process of anomaly-crisis-paradigm shift takes place.

According to Devlin & Bokulich (2015), Kuhn provided certain philosophical claims to assist his
theory of scientific revolution. He said that scientists cannot translate older paradigms all by
themselves. They would need scientific philosophers and even then the theories will be partially
translated. It is because the existing paradigms are "incommensurable" because the 18th-
century sense will be difficult for modern scientists to grasp and translate. Devlin & Bokulich
(2015), in their study further added that Kuhn very radically claimed that there is no absolute
truth and there is no "higher authority". He claimed that all the present scientists have is the
paradigm (new approaches for solving present crisis) and older paradigm (partially translated
by researchers and science philosophers) and through which new problems are solved in a loop
within paradigms. He believed that the progress of science is continuous over time but this is
not because scientists are approaching close to the truth because there is no absolute truth but
through the progression new problems get solved with the assistance of new paradigms and
old ones become obsolete with time.
Deegan (2014) added that Kuhn’s ideas and theory were very revolutionary at that time and
changed the idea of how researchers discuss science. He argued that this very idea of
revolutionized theories and facts is the part of ‘paradigm shift’.

REFERENCES
Deegan, C. (2014). Financial Accounting Theory, McGraw-Hill Education Australia, 2014. ISBN:
0071013148, 9780071013147.
Devlin, W. J., & Bokulich, A. (Eds.). (2015). Kuhn’s Structure of Scientific Revolutions-50 years on
(Vol. 311). Springer.
Richards, R. J., & Daston, L. (Eds.). (2016). Kuhn's' Structure of Scientific Revolutions' at Fifty:
Reflections on a Science Classic. University of Chicago Press.