How to Measure Progress Through Revolution?

Having so far discussed in detail ,the origin of paradigms ,their birth, their growth, their decay or replacement, their contribution and necessity for scientific research, it is necessary to summarize as to why Science progressed, how it progressed and the nature of its progress.

Science progressed because members of various scientific communities did not confine themselves to limited fields but spread their attention to diverse areas. Paradigms facilitated the progress to a large extent. The progress described by Kuhn is not a breakneck progress as evident today. It is an evolutionary journey from primitive beginnings. There were many hurdles to be crossed and many questions to be answered. At every stage, there was a better and refined understanding of nature .The pursuit is characterized by the absence of a goal and it was pursuit for pursuit sake.

Even though Kuhn was very coherent with his ideas of paradigms and scientific revolution, a dispassionate student of the history of science does not accept Kuhn’s interpretations of the developments in the progress of science. The paradigms that Kuhn was talking of can be presumed to have existed in the early days of Science. In fact in those days there were no scientific communities. The pursuers of science could be counted on fingers. In fact, the so called scientists were not pure scientists, but they were dissenters of the then existing order. When Galileo differed with the then existing belief that Earth was the centre of cosmos, he was dissenting the then existing order.

Another important point that Kuhn mined in his discussion was the impact of religion on the progress of Science in the early days. In fact, religion was the single most factor which hindered the progress of Science and a heavy cap was laid on it. It is difficult to agree with Kuhn when he says that whenever a new paradigm was born, the adherents to it used to oppose it. In fact it is the religious elements who opposed any new scientific theories. The reason was simple. They were the main advocates of the divinity of the Kings. Any new scientific pronouncement was apprehended to be an attack on such divinity. So the earlier scientists, on pronouncing their new found theories faced the wrath of the religious elements and followers of the Kings rather than any scientific community.

Kuhn’s comparison of Science to a puzzle also is not acceptable. When one tries to solve a puzzle, he is sure of succeeding in it because every puzzle has a solution. But scientific pursuit is an arrow in the dark. We have already seen how Galileo’s proposition was a mere conjecture. Because of its truth, it became a path breaker. However it may be noted that for every one success in scientific pursuit, there are countless failures. If Science is really a puzzle, there won’t be any riddles to be solved and rate of failures would have been minimal.

Kuhn says that scientific invention should be considered as political revolution. But the comparison is incorrect. In a political upheaval, there are numerous participants right form common man up to the Noble class. Even though benefits of Science touch every soul, inventions and discoveries do not agree the attention of the common man. The Euphoria over a new invention is the preserve of the scientific community and common man is not a part of it.

Kuhn also cannot be accepted when he says that progress in Science is combinations of explosions rather than brick by brick evolutionary processes. One example for this is the unraveling of the structure of the atom, which passed from one scientist to three succeeding generations. It was totally evolutionary and stands in stark contrast to Kuhn’s arguments.

Kuhn’s book despite many incongruencies is a very important one in the history of progress of Science.He has written a book which was a matter of scientifically historic book. The book is important not only from its content point of view but also for the elaborate criticism that it has invited.

There was some appreciation and a lot of criticism for the book. Many scientists jumped into the fray and dissected his theories mercilessly. The criticisms were so harsh and intense that as some scientist said,” He asked for rain and got a flood. Books criticizing his work are so many that they themselves brought out a lot of material on the progress of science. The scientific community stands indebted to Kuhn not only for his book but also for the widespread criticism of his work.

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