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According to Thomas Kuhn, How Does Science Normally Progress?

  • Date Submitted: 01/30/2014 09:51 AM
  • Flesch-Kincaid Score: 54 
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Since the beginning of time humans have been driven to learn about all things past and present. Science, by loose definition, is the gathering of the gathering of information methodically.
Thomas Khun wrote that science does not progress linearly, but has paradigm shifts where there is a sudden change in the affected field of study. A paradigm shift is a radical change in underlying theories or beliefs. These paradigm shifts abruptly change how accumulated information is interpreted. In other words, science doesn’t progress wholly on the addition of new truths, but on a change in our perception of existing information.
Science is broken up into three distinct stages. First is prescience, in which there is no   central paradigm. Next, we have normal science, when scientists attempt to enlarge the central paradigm by interpreting the information available. During normal science, the failure of a result to conform to the paradigm is seen not as refuting the paradigm, but as the mistake of the researcher. As incongruous results build up, science reaches a crisis, at which point a new paradigm, which considers the old results along with the anomalous results into one framework, is accepted. This is termed revolutionary science.
Overly simplified, according to Thomas Khun’s writing scientific research starts with no presuppositions. This is the prescience stage in which there is not enough information to have formulated any theories. After some data is gathered, there is enough information to start formulating theories. As theories are formulated and refined, this is the normal science stage. As research continues, should the results not match the current theories, new theories must be formulated based on all data gathered.   Consideration is given to old as well as new data. This stage is revolutionary science.
No research with complete knowledge of any subject. If that were so, we wouldn’t need research. As knowledge on a subject increases, we often learn...

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