Opinion: Paradigm shift on the horizon? If so, bring it on

In his landmark 1962 book, “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions,” Thomas Kuhn wrote of a phenomenon that occurs in fields of study, especially sciences, when the whole apple cart gets upset. He called it a paradigm shift and described it as a time when one or more major assumptions in a field are overturned for new ones that better explain reality or produce better results. Thus, astronomy underwent a paradigm shift when the heliocentric (sun-centered) theory replaced the older geocentric (earth-centered) one. Suddenly, the earth was no longer the center of the universe, at least in terms of who revolves around whom, and all sorts of things had to change. The change was necessary, however, in order for the science to advance. Similar paradigm shifts occur or have occurred in all mature sciences and, though this goes beyond Kuhn, they also occur in most fields of study.

By: Joe Graves, Mitchell superintendent