Thomas Kuhn

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

1. IDEA 1

   Science does not grow smoothly

   Kuhn argues that science does not simply build up knowledge step by step. Instead, long periods of steady work are broken by sudden revolutions that change how scientists see the world.

2. IDEA 2

   Paradigms frame scientific work

   Kuhn introduces the idea of a paradigm, a shared set of theories, methods and examples that guides a scientific community. It tells scientists what questions to ask and how to answer them.

3. IDEA 3

   Normal science solves puzzles

   Kuhn describes normal science as work done within a paradigm, solving puzzles it defines. Scientists in this phase rarely question the paradigm itself. Most daily scientific work, Kuhn says, looks like this, filling in details of a picture already accepted.

All 8 ideas from The Structure of Scientific Revolutions →