Ptolemy, in common with most Ancient Greek philosophers, believed that the earth was at the center of the universe (geocentrism), and that the sun and other planets revolved around it. Roman mathematician and astrologer Claudius Ptolemy’s fixation on the paradigm of his time created problems. “revolutionary science.” While normal science entails gathering more data, revolutionary science entails looking at the same data but in a completely different way. However, eventually the basic and fundamental principles may be shown to be inadequate and there is a paradigm shift, i.e. A certain amount of error is accepted, and it can be absorbed by slight changes in the paradigm. “Normal science” continues for a long time, until some experiments begin uncovering inconsistencies. Early chaos theorists had difficulty securing funding, finding supervisors, or getting journals to publish their research. When these anomalies can no longer be ignored, the shift can be quick and total.įor example, Feigenbaum's explorations of chaos theory took a long time to take root, and his ideas were originally marginalized, because they lay outside the established classical paradigm of physics. Kuhn believed that paradigm shifts are instigated by accumulated evidence within a paradigm – “anomalies” – that are not adequately supported by current theories. The weight of scientific and public resistance to material that challenges a paradigm may mean that fringe ideas are initially ridiculed. But every so often, a scientist has a revelation. In fairness, this is an understandable stance to take. This debate spilled over into the public discourse, and newspapers became filled with cartoons and caricatures of Darwin and his extraordinary new suggestions.Ī paradigm shift is often the result of scientists working at the fringe of that paradigm, performing research that most other researchers feel is a little misguided, or a dead end. For example, Darwin’s theories were intensely debated by scientists and theologians. A paradigm shift is not limited to academics alone, but its effect ripples out into the public consciousness, too.

Kuhn paradigm shift