Tentative Response - Kuhn

2. What is ‘normal science’ in Kuhn’s thinking, and what are the social characteristics (group practices, institutions, methods of doing science) of science in a period of ‘normal science’?

Kuhn believes that the way science is currently done, educational institutions provide students with a comprehensive and rigorous understanding of what is known about the world, and this educational training is in “normal science.” Normal science affects scientific research by forcing scientists to fit the answers of questions about natural processes in conceptual boxes. Science is expected to be cumulative, only building on what is already known – this is executed through institutional organization, including textbooks, a clear track to tenure, grant-backed research, and a clear formula for developing a hypothesis based on current understandings of current theories and axioms. Normal science also creates a culture of conservatism: the assumption of an understanding of the way of the world results in the immediate opposition to and rejection of new, radical theories, or fundamental novelties. The necessity to shatter preexisting beliefs and traditions to introduce a paradigm shift is what makes a scientific revolution a revolution.