Submitted by thelivingphilosophy t3_10w32zk in philosophy
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I first learned that term from Kuhn's book, which I found very important at the time. It was later that the term "paradigm" became popularized into general culture by Joel Barker.
I met Barker and attended a few of his early lectures. Insightful person. He did not misuse the term in my opinion.
It's a shame that the word has been maligned. It's a useful term for which there isn't a very good synonym, making it difficult to actually discuss paradigmatic issues. People groan and roll their eyes if they hear this term used these days.
I love Kuhn, but he is not the originator of the word "paradigm". He certainly gave it a specific meaning in terms of the history and philosophy of science, but it's a pretty old word. The people using it as a buzz word are probably not using it in the Kuhnian sense.
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When I first learned this world, I took it to mean "worldview". Is that the usage that is bemoaned as a misuse?
I thought I was gonna be the only in here expressing my love of Kuhn. Best class in my undergrad degree was Philosophy of the History of Science and as you expect he was the core of the curriculum. Growing up in a family of engineers, I really solidified my love of philosophy during that seminar
The only time I've heard the word "paradigm" used repeatedly, consistently, and appropriately was when studying Latin. Also, fuck studying Latin.
Paradigm means: pattern, system or model. You could say that worldviews are a type of paradigm, when that worldview is a shared belief system, a pattern or model shared by many. However, it is also possible to have a worldview that is not a paradigm at all (if it is unique, original and not well defined) So yes, I think you are misusing the word.
This article is very ironic btw, the idea that Thomas Kuhn invented this word is hilarious. He is just another guy hijacking the word for his own purposes. This word was used for centuries before Kuhn came around.
I am beginning to think that philosophers are unaware and unable to read non-philosophy books, it's brutal how narrow-minded these essays constantly are. Talk about cloistered scholars.
In addition to that, language is not a fixed paradigm, it is defined by people using it, not the other way around. When enough people use a word in the "wrong" way, it becomes the correct and normal way to use it.
This title would be easier to read had “Paradigm” been quoted in some fashion.
Nowhere does it say that he invented the word. In order to talk about an idea, philosophers will often use an appropriate word and define it in the context of their framework of thinking. Kuhn thought that the term paradigm captured what he meant better than any other word and then gave context to what he meant within his own framework. You can see this with many philosophers, who often choose specific words for complex reasons after years of study, see: Deleuze and the word Rhizome, or Nietzsche and Ubermensch, for instance.
Notice: >To summarise then, a paradigm for Kuhn has two core meanings.
A book of philosophy says "Here is what I'm thinking, here are the terms I'm using, and here's what I'm using them to mean in this context so that we can talk about these ideas."
I think they mean to say that this use of the word paradigm originated with him.
paradigm (n.) late 15c., "an example, a model," from Late Latin paradigma "pattern, example," especially in grammar, from Greek paradeigma "pattern, model; precedent, example," from paradeiknynai "exhibit, represent," literally "show side by side," from para- "beside" (see para- (1)) + deiknynai "to show" (cognate with Latin dicere "to show;" from PIE root *deik- "to show," also "pronounce solemnly"). In 20c. it began to be used in the more specific philosophical sense of "logical or conceptual structure serving as a form of thought within a given area of experience," especially in Thomas Kuhn's "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" (1962). Related: Paradigmatic; paradigmatical.
I use paradigm all the time as an engineer -- it is really useful when comparing different models,
For example it would be useful to distinguish the "ideal" and "real" paradigms of a topic -- similar words to describe these are "regimes", or "cases".
On some level, it often feels like the word that fits best in an academic paper. It is the only word out of these examples that ONLY means "category of thought" - this is free from any possible ambiguity.
You are right, actually, and thanks for correcting me. It was OP who framed it this way with the title.
I recall from my own PhD studies that Kuhn used it many ways. Something like 60 different ways (I’ll have to check this, but will advised later if very wrong).
EDIT - “Masterman (1970) a friendly critic of Kuhns claimed to have spotted more than 20 different ways that Kuhn used the term paradigm in his book…”
So I was not accurate above, but I knew there was quite a lot of ways the term was variously originally used by Kuhn. I’ve also slightly paraphrased the above quote but retained the essence.
Just as an aside, the ubiquity of the word trope, while not always misused, bugs the shit out of me. I still remember when it emerged in Village Voice movie reviews back in 2004 or so. Nails on chalkboard to me.
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Latin's awesome idk what you mean
Excuse me, but "proactive" and "paradigm" -- aren't these just buzzwords that dumb people use to sound important? Not that I'm accusing you of anything like that.
-- I'm fired, aren't I?
Next question: Now, how can we shift it? 🙃
God damn I read about paradigm in the context of quantum physics and gaslighting from stumbleupon like 10 years ago. Now everybody uses those words wtf
Google Ngram viewer kind of confirms this. Basically no usage of the the word until about 1962, when The Structure of Scientific Revolutions was released.
Use it in a sentence please
My favorite class was the philosophy of the history of the science of the mathematics of the literature of the culture
This is the Aladeen answer.
Kuhn himself mentioned this in a 1969 postscript appended to his original publication. The OP summarises Kuhn's postscript: Kuhn tried to clarify the matter by starting to use the term "disciplinary matrix" to describe more of what he was loosely referring to as "paradigms" initially. He started using the word "paradigm" specifically for what he now termed "exemplars": examples from existing scientific reseach in a field that are taken as exemplary models of how a key problem in that scientific field was solved, and which implicitly provide guidance for how currently unsolved problems in that field are best approached.
Hunh, it seems that the 1969 postscript at least is available online
Aladeened.
You're sleeping if you haven't seen Paradigm Shift
We greeks still use the word 😅
Παράδειγμα is used as “example”.
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Wittgenstein too.
Aladeened and aladeen pilled
This is generally true and true of English, but language is also political and academic to varying degrees, so it can in fact be fixed in place. Many languages, particularly ones that are strongly tied to specific nations or groups, are governed in some degree from the top down, with institutions that regulate the development of a language. The Académie Française, Royal Spanish Academy, etc.
Why is Kuhn "controversial?"
Beyond a critical point and time it often becomes denotatively defined as correct, which is not always what we mean by 'correct.' In terms of clarity or consistency the popular choice often is wrong. If one takes issue, specifically, with the popular usage of a word, then obviously the meaning of 'correct' is functional, not denotative. So the reminder that lexicography follows vernacular, while true, is meaningless in that context.
It makes sense - that's the word's etymology from the original Greek. Prefix para- + "that-which-is-shown", basically. In modern Greek, παράδειγμα simply means "example".
I never got why he equated paradigm to mean exemplar. For a while I thought it could be a typo (or even a mistake) from paragon, but surely would have been caught in later revisions.
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I use paradigm as a spelling word. I hope that’s okay 😵💫😵💫😵💫
I use paradigm as a word, beat that 😏
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It wasn't a new word, he just appropriated it. Before that it meant something like "a fine (or typical) example [of]". "He was a paradigm of the honourable man."
Oof... I got down voted to hell for arguing something similar earlier this week, but I'm not steeped enough in sources to be able to reference them on demand. Always a relief to find ideas reiterated elsewhere.
Then it devolved into THIS:
https://youtu.be/hz2MPcsZJcM
Thirdly as a term overused by unimaginative CEOs/Managers.
This article is very paradigm. Good job.
That is more commonly expressed as “Weltanschauung.”
Invoking the Roman Ingarden recursion meme.
Proactive seems like a useful word to me. What’s a less middle-brow word with a similar meaning?
Paradigm is also known as “coupla fly hunnies”
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When I read Kuhn, I couldn't help but feel like his theory of scientific progress consists mostly of backsplaining. He examines only a handful of scientific revolutions and with so few of them it is of course possible to describe them in any way he liked.
Did somebody manage to extract any verifiable predictions from Kuhn's work? How did they fair in the time that passes since the publishing of his book? Could his theory for example explain Moore's Law?
Aw lighten up fellas. Sometimes names of stuff can be funny. Like the People’s Liberation Army Navy Marine Corps Aviators.
I learned it studying ancient Greek, banging my head against verb paradigms.
check out the wiki page, there are detractors who come after him. also his word isnt gospel even if convincing
Totally wrong. The word is over 500 years old. Perhaps philosophy isn't for you, as you've failed at basic academic rigour. Delete this.
But that's always true. Philosophers always disagree. The correct word is "influential".
It's a Simpsons quote. The comment above mine is also a Simpsons quote, so I was just continuing the scene.
He isn‘t that controversial about his use of paradigm to describe a stage of science (except maybe the assumption that genuine scientific fields always only are supposed to have one). He is more controversal for that a paradigm shift within a science becomes intelligible from the view between those paradigms
Damn, tough crowd
Saying it the way it's spelled makes it more fun to talk about.
A N J A K A N P A R A D I G M A
It’s simple it comes from about twenty cents. Or a twence.
it is defined by people using it
brucebuffett t1_j7l6aaf wrote
"So he's proactive, huh?" "Oh god yes! We're talking about a totally outrageous paradigm!"