Cheers, Ken Hanly
Michael Pollak wrote:
>
> On Sat, 1 Apr 2000 JKSCHW at aol.com wrote:
>
> > > The paradigms developed in _Theory of Scientific
> > > Revolutions_ clearly don't apply to linquistics, or to sociology,
> > > political science or any of the other fields in which they are at
> > > present so popular. It's all based on a massive misreading of Kuhn.
> >
> > And why is that, pray tell?
>
> As you rightfully note in the rest of your post, there is a lot of sematic
> drift to Kuhn's notion of paradigm, some of enriching, some of it sloppy.
> But I hope we can agree that the central meaning of paradigm attaches to
> the idea of a scientific revolution.
>
> Before a revolution, there are competing schools. After the revolution,
> there is a paradigm. A paradigm, in this strong sense, goes hand in hand
> with normal science. It defines the field of enquiry such that any
> scientist that doesn't subscribe to is not considered a real scientist.
> A good example might be the way scientists are regarded today who don't
> think that AIDS is caused by HIV. When we were in the pre-paradigm stage
> of competing theories, their views were respectable. Now they are
> considered to have departed so far from scientific standards and norms as
> to be considered "anti-science." Researchers can't take their ideas
> seriously without damaging their own reputations and chances at funding.
>
> I don't believe linguistics has ever in its history had a paradigm in this
> sense. Especially when you take into account that the natural science
> paradigms that Kuhn discusses to are all transnational paradigms -- they
> were simultaneously accepted in this drumming out sense in America,
> Europe, Russia, China and India. Political science and sociology and
> cultural studies have never had paradigms like that, so in the strong
> sense, they've never had paradigms. In Kuhn's terms, they seem to be
> eternally stuck at the pre-paradigm stage of competing schools.
>
> Michael
> __________________________________________________________________________
> Michael Pollak................New York City..............mpollak at panix.com