paradigm

What is a Paradigm Shift?

Thomas Kuhn presented his idea of a paradigm shift in a book called The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. He showed that most scientists work within an established paradigm. Sometimes, however, as they do their experiments, evidence is collected that cannot be explained by this paradigm. As this type of evidence grows, scientists need to change their way of thinking and cannot continue to think in the old ways. This change is called a paradigm shift. For example, people once thought that the earth was flat until enough evidence showed that this was not true.