Tentative Answer: Scientific Revolutions

3. What changes occur which lead to a breakdown of “normal science” and the “revolutions” that Kuhn speaks of in his title?

According to Kuhn, a scientific revolution occurs when “an existing paradigm has ceased to function adequately in the exploration of an aspect of nature to which that paradigm itself had previously led the way” (92). The admittance of anomalies within the preexisting paradigm demands a reconsideration of that paradigm against a new paradigm that does explain those anomalies. These two paradigms necessarily oppose one another, with each paradigm saying different things by different methods about whatever field of nature they attempt to explain. Since distinct paradigms have their own set of puzzles and foundational beliefs, the argumentation for each paradigm will be circular in nature, what with a given paradigm arguing within its own boundaries. The crises presented by anomalies, still, serve to usher in a new paradigm that will more thoroughly explain nature and will offer up puzzles that can be used to deepen that understanding further until anomalies within this new paradigm demand another replacement.