Paradigm shifts create a new framework of thinking
Incremental discoveries and breakthroughs in understanding occur within the existing, dominant framework of thinking. Disruptive, nonlinear advances occur when the framework of thinking is itself altered such that new patterns of thought become possible.
In his classic book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Thomas Kuhn wrote about what he called “paradigm shifts” in science. These are alterations in scientific thinking that represent more than incremental advances. They are alterations of the framework of thinking, of the set of shared concepts and assumptions within which scientists do their theorizing (until the next paradigm shift).[1]
See also:
- Shifting paradigms requires macroscopic, integrative thinking
- Paradigm shifts reconstruct the field from new fundamentals
Elastic – Mlodinow (2018), ch. 5, § “A Paradigm Shift in Popcorn” ↩︎