Philosopher’s Presentation Thomas Kuhn
John Folh Marie James Janice Ballou John Meyer Uchechi Okani
Thomas Samuel Kuhn 1922-1996
Most influential
philosopher of science
of the second half of
the 20th century
Life and Career
• 1922 - Born in Cincinnati, Ohio • 1939 - Entered Harvard • 1943 - BA in physics (Summa cum laude) • 1946 - MS in physics • 1949 - PhD in physics • 1948 - Professor of history of science Harvard • 1956 - Professor of history of science Berkeley • 1964 - Professor of philosophy Princeton • 1983 - Professor of philosophy MIT • 1991 - Retired • 1996 - Died from complication of throat and bronchial cancer
Main works • 1957 - The Copernican Revolution
• 1962 - The Structure of Scientific Revolutions • 1970 – The second edition The Structure of Scientific Revolutions • 1977 – The Essential Tension: Selected Studies in Scientific Tradition and Change • 1978 – The Black-Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity
Kuhn’s major influences
• Conant’s course in science
• Michael Polyani
• Ludwig Wittgenstein
• Other: Newtonian physics, Einstein Relativity theory, Copernican theory of astronomy, Kantian philosophy, Neo-Kantian epistemologists, (Meyerson, Cassirer and Maier, etc.)
Kuhn’s Theoretical foundations from basic
sciences
Physics
• Academic life started in physics
• The Cohesive Energy of Monovalent Metals as a Function of their Atomic Quantum Defects
• Black-Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity
• Newtonian physics
Paradigm shift • Paradigm – what members of scientific community
share
• Change in the basic assumptions within the ruling theory of science
• Known as the philosopher of scientific revolutions
• Two types of mature physical science: normal and revolutionary
• Scientists are puzzle - solvers
• Anomalies
• Crisis
Scientific revolution
• Scientific Revolution
• Copernican Revolution
• Incommensurable
• Disciplinary matrix
• Exemplars
Sociology
Created new approach in social science
Sociologists became his followers
• Standard development of a science have sociological determinants.
• Sociology improved – Kuhn influential among sociologists
Psychology
• Appeal to psychological literature
• Learning to see the world in a different way
• Change of perception – psychological leap
• Gestalt shift
• Transition from one paradigm to another
• Common features underlie theory and perception
• Theory dependence of observation
What is it?
A Duck or a Bunny? Kuhn used the duck-rabbit optical illusion to demonstrate the way in which a paradigm shift could cause one to see
the same information in an entirely
What is it?
Girl or old woman?
PREPARADIGMATIC PHASE
BIRTH OF A NEW PARADIGM – ALWAYS BETTER
THAN THE OLD ONE
NORMAL SCENCE
MULTIPLICATION OF ANOMALIES
CRISIS OF NORMAL SCIENCE
SCIENTIFIC
REVOLUTION
Kuhn – Scientific Revolutions
Quelle: Lauth/Sareiter: Wissenschaftliche Erkenntnis, Paderborn 2002, S. 123
The Usefulness of Kuhn’s Paradigm
• Twenty-one different uses of the word “paradigm” in Kuhn’s work
• Often ambiguous
• Simply speaking a paradigm is a common belief in a theory and its principles
Kuhn’s Duel Perspective
“Normal Science”
Versus
“Revolutionary Science”
***
The Paradigm Shift
Normal Science
• Well Organized
• Well established concepts of how the world works
• Agreed upon framework for gathering and analyzing data
• Completing Puzzles
“Revolutionary Science”
• New facts contradict existing paradigms
• Norms become blurred
• There is decreasing confidence in an existing paradigm
• New paradigms emerge
The Paradigm Shift
• Begins with an idea
• Summons imagination
• Invites questions
• Creates avenues for new discoveries
The Lack of Absolute Truth
• Each new discovery begs a new question
• Reality is constantly evolving
• No theory can explain all things
• Useful to see things in new ways
Kuhn’s relevance to nursing science and practice
• Embraces individual contributions
• Promotes creativity to improve processes
• Values the tasks that are necessary on the path to new practice models
• Encourages participation in change
Kuhn and Major Theories
1. Louis Pasteur Germ Theory of Disease
2. Peplau’s theory of interpersonal Model
3. Dorothea E. Orem: Self-Care deficit Theory
4. Johnson's Behavioral systems model
Germ Theory of Disease
• Kuhn:
• A scientific field’s first paradigm
• Striking piece of work
• Provides insight
• Louis Pasteur’s Germ Theory of Disease:
• One of the first paradigms in microbiology.
•
• “Louis Pasteur’s paradigm!
Kuhn enhancing/ detracting Germ theory:
• Kuhn:
• 2 kinds of scientific change:
• Change within normal science
• Revolutionary science
• Bridged by “crisis science”
• Germ Theory:
• Change within Microbiology
• Revolutionary!
• Preceded by “crisis” ??
• AGAINST KUHN:
• Not all revolutions are preceded crisis
Kuhn & Germ theory cont.
• Kuhn:
• As paradigms change,
• Scientists change their:
• Behavior
• Experimental practice
• Ideas
• Bits of the world change
• **
• Germ Theory - paradigm shift!
• Changes in:
• Hospital practices
• Medical practices
• Medical world introduced to viruses
Peplau’s theory of interpersonal Model • Kuhn:
• People in different paradigms speak slightly different languages.
• Peplau’s definition - “Person”
• “A developing organism that tries to reduce anxiety caused by needs”
• Dictionary
• “A human being, whether man, woman, or child”.
• Philosophy
• “A self-conscious or rational being”
Peplau’s theory of interpersonal Model cont.
• Peplau’s
• “Health :
• “A word symbol that implies forward
movement of personality and other ongoing
human processes in the direction of creative, constructive, productive, personal and community living” (UIC, 2011).
•
• Dictionary
• “The general condition of the body or mind
with reference to soundness and vigor”
Kuhn enhancing/ detracting Peplau’s theory:
• Kuhn:
• Much of the work in normal science is “puzzle solving”
• “Puzzle” v. “problem”
• Solution v. no solution
• Peplau:
• Four sequential phases in the interpersonal relationship:
• Orientation = problem identification
• Identification
• Exploitation
• Resolution
• Peplau: a problem has a solution
Dorothea E. Orem: Self-Care deficit Theory of Nursing
• Kuhn:
• Scientific field’s first paradigm happens:
• Striking piece of work
• Insight
• Model for further investigation
• Dorothea Orem:
• One of foremost nursing theorists.
• Goal - upgrade quality of nursing
• Made Contributions to nursing
• Supplied model for further nursing investigations
Kuhn enhancing/ detracting Orem’s theory:
• Kuhn:
• Normal science -work aimed at extending and
refining the paradigm
• Dorothea Orem’s theory:
• refined and re-published
• First 1971, then 1980, 1991, 1995, and 2001
• Kuhn:
• Good scientist committed to paradigm
theoretically and experimentally
• Orem’ theory provides:
• Theoretical and experimental commitment:
• Theory for nursing science
• Nursing process for nursing practice
Johnson's Behavioral systems model • KUHN:
• Key feature of normal science:
• Well organized
• Dorothy Johnson’s work:
• Qualifies as normal science
• Well organized:
• Proposed model in 1968
• Published “behavioral system model of nursing” in 1980
• Concepts well defined
Kuhn enhancing/ detracting Johnson’s theory:
• Kuhn:
• Different paradigms different languages
• Johnson’s language:
• “Nursing”
• “An external regulatory force which acts to preserve the organization and integration of the patients behaviors at an optimum level under those conditions in which the behaviors constitutes a threat to the physical or social health, or in which illness is found” (UIC, 2011)
Kuhn & Nursing Education • Kuhn:
• Observational data and logic alone are insufficient for
• paradigm shift
•
• Nursing education:
• Observational studies
• AND
• Experimental studies
Kuhn & Nursing Science
• KUHN:
• Normal science work =
• Aimed at extending and refining the paradigm
• Nursing:
• Extension and refining:
• Research, education, practice
• Nursing revolution???.
• Older theories not replaced but improved upon.
• Kuhn’s:
• “One paradigm per field per time”
• Nursing science:
• Microbiology, psychology, biology etc.
Kuhn & Nursing Practice • Kuhn:
• Progress in a scientific field measured in problem-solving power
• Nursing process:
• Problem-solving power
• Nursing process steps:
• Assessment
• Diagnosis
• Planning
• Implementation
• Evaluation - Problem-solving power measured
Kuhn & Nursing Practice cont. • Kuhn:
• As paradigms change, world change
•
• Nursing changing the world:
• Great impact in the world’s health-care.
• Leaders of good outcomes within care models
• Excellent quality, cost-effective care
• High levels of patient satisfaction
• Voted one of most trusted professions
1. How does did Kuhn’s philosophical perspective effect the development of Nursing Science?
2. Has this philosophical perspective changed how science is viewed by scholars and/or practitioners?
3. Does this philosophical perspective help the scholar, nurse educator, or practitioner?
Kuhn and Today’s Nursing Science
Nursing Normal Science
Nursing Science World
BS theories
new theories
epistemology
epistemology
new theories
BS theories
Practice Discipline Nursing Science World
References Becker, H. S. (1993). Theory: The necessary evil. Originally published in Theory and Concepts
in Qualitative Research: Perspectives from the Field, David J. Flinders and Geoffrey E. Mills, eds., (New York: Teachers College Press, 1993) pp. 218-229. Retrieved from http://stuff.natehaas.com/pub/TheoryThe%20Necessary%20Evil.htm
Bellis, M. (2011). Louis Pasteur: Biography of Louis Pasteur 1822 – 1895. About.com Guide. Retrieved June 26, from http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventors/a/Louis_Pasteur.htm
Dahnke, M.D., & Dreher, M.H. (2011). Philosophy of science for nursing practice: Concepts and application. New York: Springer
Godfrey-Smith, P. (2003). Theory and reality: An introduction to the philosophy of science. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Nursing. (2011). Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved June 26, 2011, from
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nursing
Person. (2011). Dictionary.com. Retrieved June 26, 2011, from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/person
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