THE PRIORITY OF

PARADIGMS
Rules were derived from
paradigms but paradigms
can guide research even
in the absence of rules.
What is a PARADIGM?
PARADIGM

- A philosophical and theoretical
framework of a scientific discipline.



- An example or model.

- Standard illustrations of various theories
in their conceptual, observational, and
instrumental applications.

The paradigm
of a mature
scientific
community
can be
determined
with relative
ease.
Reason :

- The determination of shared paradigm is
not the determination of shared rules.
The rules
used by
scientists who
share a
paradigm
are not so
easily
determined.
Reasons :

- Scientists disagree on the interpretation
of a paradigm.


- The existence of a paradigm does not
imply that any full set of rules exist.




- Scientists are guided by tacit
knowledge.
oThese are the knowledge acquired through
practice and that cannot be articulated
explicitly.


- The attributes shared by a paradigm are
not always readily apparent.
- Paradigms maybe prior to, more
binding, and more complete than any
rules for research that could be
unequivocally abstracted from them.

oParadigms could determine normal science
without the intervention of discoverable rules.

There is severe difficulty of discovering the rules
that have guided particular normal scientific
tradition.




Paradigms can determine
normal science without the
intervention of discoverable
rules or shared assumptions.
Reasons :



- It is very difficult to discover the rules
that guide particular normal science
traditions.

- Scientists never learn concepts, laws,
and theories in the abstract and by
themselves.

o They generally learn these through
applications.

o New theory is taught in tandem with its
application to a concrete range of phenomena.
A paradigm
can
determine
several
traditions of
normal
science that
overlap
without being
coextensive.
Reason:
- Although a single paradigm may serve
many scientific groups, it is not the same
paradigm for them all.

oSubspecialties are different educated and focus
on different applications for their research
findings.




oChanges in a paradigm can affect different
subspecialties differently.

oA revolution produced within one of these
traditions will not necessary extend to the
others as well.