The Paradigm Shift Defined

The Paradigm Shift Defined

Definition
par·a·digm shift : A fundamental change in approach or underlying assumptions.

What is a paradigm?
Technical: a typical example or pattern of something; a model.
"there is a new paradigm for public art in this country"

Simple: a model or pattern for something that may be copied.
: a theory or a group of ideas about how something should be done, made, or thought about.

It can be understand as a sort of viewpoint, or a way of seeing and understanding something.

paradigm synonyms: model, pattern, example, exemplar, template, standard, prototype, archetype
"why should your sets of values be the paradigm for the rest of us?"

Accordingly, a "paradigm shift" is defined as "an important change that happens when the usual way of thinking about or doing something is replaced by a new and different way."

A paradigm shift occurs when one paradigm theory is replaced by another.

What is a paradigm theory?
A paradigm theory is a general theory that helps to provide scientists or researchers working in a particular field with their broad theoretical framework, or their “conceptual scheme.” It provides them with their basic assumptions, their key concepts, and their methodology. It gives their research its general direction and goals. It represents an exemplary model of good science within a particular discipline.

A paradigm shift can even be an achievement, or a desire, as well as a new way of seeing certain knowledge.

The paradigm shift from one gospel to two
Many of us have been taught our entire lives that the scriptures teach of the gospel which is a spiritual set of teachings and revelation from either God or Christ. This is true, however there are actually two gospels. One is spiritual, and the other is temporal. If you go back and read them again you will quickly realize that you are know understanding the scriptures through a new paradigm; a paradigm of two, not one gospel. The temporal gospel in the scriptures is the teachings and revelations of cataclysmic events like the earthquakes, the plagues, and the flood. This new paradigm of two, not one can also be applied in reverse to science. Science claims to only deal with tangible, or temporal things, but this new paradigm shows us that there is a lot more to the universe than the tangible or the corporeal. The study of energy, frequencies, quantum physics, plasma physics, etc. shows us more and more that there is a spiritual side to science.

Paradigm shifts can take time.
In shifting from the common world view of the disciplines of the sciences, philosophy, and religious beliefs to a cosmism world view of these disciplines, we find that the shift is a slow one. The study of Cosmism is a life long journey. This new paradigm expands and grows depending on what you put into it. It is far too vast a topic to be learned in a course or series of classes. However, as it is with any deeply interesting and exciting subject, many have come to an "Ah ha" moment when they realize the truth and importance of it all. For it takes a build up of evidence that finally gets big enough that an "Ah ha" pops in their head and from that point they can no longer deny it. Most have a hard time believing some of what makes up the model of cosmism. Most walk away from it. And most ask "How is it, I have never heard of this?"

So keep at it. Don't stop trying to understand it. Eventually that undeniable truth will click in your mind. At that point, it is beyond a paradigm. It is a paradigm shift into Cosmism, where you find cosmological or astral elements in so many subjects and disciplines. And where you acquire far more knowledge of those disciplines through this cosmological paradigm.

Further reading...

Paradigm Shift in depth
You hear the phrase “paradigm shift” all the time, and not just in philosophy. People talk about paradigm shifts in all sorts of areas: medicine, politics, psychology, sports. But what, exactly, is a paradigm shift? And where does the term come from?

The term “paradigm shift” was coined by the American philosopher Thomas Kuhn (1922- 1996). It is one of the central concepts in his hugely influential work, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, published in 1962. To understand what it means, one first has to understand the notion of a paradigm theory.

What is a paradigm theory?
A paradigm theory is a general theory that helps to provide scientists working in a particular field with their broad theoretical framework–what Kuhn calls their “conceptual scheme.” It provides them with their basic assumptions, their key concepts, and their methodology. It gives their research its general direction and goals. It represents an exemplary model of good science within a particular discipline.

Examples of paradigm theories
Ptolemy’s geocentric model of the universe (with the earth at the center)
Copernicus’ heliocentric astronomy (with the sun at the center)
Aristotle’s physics
Galileo’s mechanics
The medieval theory of the four “humors” in medicine
Newton’s theory of gravity
Dalton’s atomic theory
Darwin’s theory of evolution
Einstein’s theory of relativity
Quantum mechanics
The theory of plate tectonics in geology
Germ theory in medicine
Gene theory in biology

What is a paradigm shift?
A paradigm shift occurs when one paradigm theory is replaced by another. Here are some examples:

Ptolemy’s astronomy giving way to Copernican astronomy
Aristotle’s physics (which held that material objects had essential natures that determined their behavior) giving way to the physics of Galileo and Newton (which viewed the behavior of material objects as being governed by laws of nature).
Newtonian physics (which held time and space to be the same everywhere, for all observers) giving way to Einsteinian physics (which holds time and space to be relative to the observer’s frame of reference).
What causes a paradigm shift?
Kuhn was interested in the way science makes progress. In his view, science can’t really get going until most of those working within a field agree upon a paradigm. Before this happens, everyone is doing their own thing in their own way, and you can’t have the sort of collaboration and teamwork that is characteristic of professional science today.

Once a paradigm theory is established, then those working within it can start doing what Kuhn calls “normal science.” This covers most scientific activity. Normal science is the business of solving specific puzzles, collecting data, making calculations, and so on. E.g. Normal science includes:

working out how far each planet in the solar system is from the sun
completing the map of the human genome
establishing the evolutionary descent of a particular species
But every so often in the history of science, normal science throws up anomalies–results that can’t easily be explained within the dominant paradigm. A few puzzling findings by themselves wouldn’t justify ditching a paradigm theory that has been successful. But sometimes the inexplicable results start piling up, and this eventually leads to what Kuhn describes as a “crisis.”

Examples of crises leading to paradigm shifts:
At the end of the 19th century, the inability to detect the ether–an invisible medium posited to explain how light traveled and how gravity operated– eventually led to the theory of relativity.
In the 18th century, the fact that some metals gained mass when burned was at odds with phlogiston theory. This theory held that combustible materials contained phlogiston, a substance that was released through burning. Eventually, the theory was replaced by Lavoisier’s theory that combustion requires oxygen.

What changes during a paradigm shift?
The obvious answer to this question is that what changes is simply the theoretical opinions of scientists working in the field. But Kuhn’s view is more radical and more controversial than that. He argues that the world, or reality, cannot be described independently of the conceptual schemes through which we observe it. Paradigm theories are part of our conceptual schemes. So when a paradigm shift occurs, in some sense the world changes. Or to put it another way, scientists working under different paradigms are studying different worlds.

For example, if Aristotle watched a stone swinging like a pendulum on the end of a rope, he would see the stone trying to reach its natural state–at rest, on the ground. But Newton wouldn’t see this; he’d see a stone obeying the laws of gravity and energy transference. Or to take another example: before Darwin, anyone comparing a human face and a monkey’s face would be struck by the differences; after Darwin, they would be struck by the similarities.

How science progresses through paradigm shifts
Kuhn’s claim that in a paradigm shift the reality that is being studied changes is highly controversial. His critics argue that this “non-realist” point of view leads to a sort of relativism, and hence to the conclusion that scientific progress has nothing to do with getting closer to the truth. Kuhn seems to accept this. But he says he still believes in scientific progress since he believes that later theories are usually better than earlier theories in that they are more precise, deliver more powerful predictions, offer fruitful research programs, and are more elegant.

Another consequence of Kuhn’s theory of paradigm shifts is that science does not progress in an even way, gradually accumulating knowledge and deepening its explanations. Rather, disciplines alternate between periods of normal science conducted within a dominant paradigm, and periods of revolutionary science when an emerging crisis requires a new paradigm.

So that is what "paradigm shift" originally meant, and what it still means in the philosophy of science. When used outside philosophy, though, it often just means a significant change in theory or practice.