Thomas Kuhn Response - the Structure of Scientific Revolutions

...

In order to be in scientific field, real scientific theories need to be made in part by experimentation and observation, which will then this will determine the choices and interpretations of further problems in the research. The first knowledge that was able to be formed into a paradigm, in accordance to history, are astronomy, mathematics, being those easiest to observe and with readily available instruments and ways of measuring outcomes and providing standards by being able to spot result via observation, and from these two primordial paradigms many more paradigms were established. A good source of ancient scientific experimentation and discovery comes from the crafting class, such as metallurgy and medicine because the crafts are an undisputed and readily available source of facts that are proven in a short times of experimentation, this way demonstrating how technology has a vital role in the development of the sciences. Though the crafts and this short time factual experimentation that comes from it have been through history and still is essential to the development of new sciences, it is not a mechanism that will work at all times, since for example, the explanation that can be given to a scientific phenomenon that was gathered through observation by usage of the human senses is not always correct and cannot be trusted upon at all times, i.e., the early researches of electricity attributed the fact that chaff, attracted to a rubber rod will bounce off again, because thorough their basic senses they thought that this was a mechanical occurrence rather than an electrical one.

For a theory in order to be accepted as a paradigm it needs to be seen as better than competing theories, but it doesn’t need, and never does, explain all the facts that the paradigm can be defied by, in fact this same lack of complete knowledge in a paradigm is what makes for the possibility of its development and the developments of new paradigms giving this endless cycle of scientific revolution that can be improved innumerous times upon and from which new scientific studies come from. Another perspective that has to be taken into consideration when talking about the conception and evolution of science is that, different people may have distinctive understanding of the same event, Kuhn clarifies this statement by providing an example of how many people would notice changes in specific sets of cards, and he was able to prove that people that have been exposed to the test many times and few times have diversifying opinions, and although after a few experiments most people would come out with the same understanding and result on the test, some people could just not figure it out.

When paradigms change, the understanding of the world around people change as well. During scientific revolutions, scientists are able to see new and different concepts, and look at the same with new eyes. A great current example that reinforces that point, could be the discovery of a new state of water that is neither solid, liquid nor gas. The paradigm that water has only three states, and the absolute conception of it that was widely accepted five years ago is not anymore, changing how people see water and now how scientists will interact with it.

Paradigms are the main drivers of scientific research and discoveries, although useful when trying to understand nature, paradigms do not encapsulate nature completely, which in turn delivers a science revolution occurrence, that lead to a new better paradigm and better understanding of the world.