Thomas S. Kuhn. 1970. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

Thomas S. Kuhn. 1970. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 2d ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Chapters 2, 4, 6-8, 12.

The transition from criticism to commitment marks the point where progress—and ‘normal’ science—begins. The idea that on ‘refutation’ one can demand the rejection, the elimination of a theory, is ‘naïve’ falsificationism. There can be no logic, only psychology of discovery. Anomalies, inconsistencies always abound in science; by ensuring that the paradigm will not be too easily surrendered, resistance guarantees that scientists will not be lightly distracted and that the anomalies that lead to paradigm change will penetrate existing knowledge to the core.  In ‘normal’ periods the dominant paradigm secures a pattern of growth, which is only overthrown by a ‘crisis.’