Who was Thomas Kuhn and what is a paradigm shift?

Thomas Kuhn was an American historian and philosopher of science who radically changed how we think about scientific progress. In his 1962 book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, he introduced the concept of the paradigm shift, arguing that science does not merely progress in a straight line. Instead, scientific fields experience periods of accepted consensus interrupted by revolutionary changes that redefine what researchers consider valid.

What we know

• Thomas Kuhn was an American historian, physicist, and philosopher who lived from 1922 to 1996. [1, 2]
• Kuhn popularized the term paradigm shift in his influential 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. [2]
• He argued that scientific fields undergo periodic paradigm shifts rather than purely continuous, linear progression. [2]
• According to Kuhn, scientific truth cannot be established solely by objective criteria but is defined by the consensus of a scientific community. [2]

Where to go next

• a case in pointWhat is The Structure of Scientific Revolutions?
• how it workedHow do scientific communities define truth?
• how we knowWhat does incommensurability mean in science?
• the bigger pictureHow does philosophy of science study human subjectivity?
• whenHow did 20th-century history shape philosophy of science?
• an unexpected connectionHow does political leadership connect to the philosophy of science?While Thomas Kuhn revolutionized epistemology, an American politician sharing a nearly identical name serves as a state representative in Michigan.

Sources

• [1]Thomas Kuhn (Wikidata Q184980) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Thomas Kuhn · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Thomas Kuhn (Michigan politician) · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Fritz Julius Kuhn · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Maggie Kuhn · CC BY-SA 4.0