[Vocabulary] Thomas Kuhn, Paradigms and the Notion of Epistemological Progress

A Collective Paradigm

[Allegations of philosophyxiation being intellectually elitist have prompted this series which is intended to explain the vocabulary used here – a dictionary for the language of philosophyxiation.]

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As all students of philosophy will tell you, an oft recited story is that of the epistemological underpinnings of the philosophy of the renowned French mathematician and philosopher Rene Descartes. Descartes came to the conclusion that all the things he thought he knew were in reality epistemologically suspect. Therefore, the only way to get to true knowledge was to throw everything he thought he knew out the window and start afresh. This is the story that leads to the famous “cogito ergo sum” (I think, therefore I am), but that is irrelevant in this context. The reason for recounting this story is the implicit recognition of the fact that we do not construct knowledge within a vacuum. As Descartes realised, it is simply not possible to formulate anything epistemologically significant without making a few assumptions. This realisation is the basis of Thomas Kuhn’s idea of paradigms.

Paradigm Shifts

A paradigm is essentially the set of assumptions within which we construct knowledge. It is the “box” within which we live. That is not to say that it is static or singular. Every piece of knowledge we construct within our individual paradigm is based on some of the assumptions of the paradigm – like many small boxes within the larger box. In his “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions”, Kuhn argues that revolutions in Science occur when one or more of the assumptions constituting the paradigm are falsified, instigating the adoption of a new paradigm in lieu of the falsified paradigm. These paradigm shifts seem to be indicative of epistemological progress from Kuhn’s point of view. An example of such a paradigm shift would be the validation of the Copernican model which falsified the assumption that the Earth was the centre of the Solar System.

The above is a simplified and brief interpretation of Thomas Kuhn’s view of progress in epistemology. While his ideas of paradigms and paradigm shifts appear to be insightful and applicable, his claim of paradigm shifts as progress is problematic. This is because the comparison of paradigms with regards to accuracy is only possible if that comparison is carried out in a vacuum. Since we cannot, by Kuhn’s own admission, reach that intellectual vacuum, we cannot “know” whether the new paradigm brings us any closer to “the truth” than the one it replaced. And that is already assuming paradigms have a hierarchy and that correspondent Knowledge exists. So paradigm shifts and revolutions in thought can at best be regarded as change; claiming that they represent progress involves a number of assumptions that do not hold up very well under close scrutiny.

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Disclaimer – All the ideas presented here are personal interpretations of the ideas of certain philosophers, as opposed to THE ideas of said philosophers.