Paradigm

We tell you what a paradigm is and its characteristics. Also, its history and Kuhn's notion of paradigm.

What is a paradigm?

A paradigm is a theoretical-explanatory model that a scientific community adopts and shares when carrying out its research. The term comes from the Greek paradeigmawhich means “mold” or “pattern” and is often used as “example” or “model.”

In sociology, a paradigm is the set of beliefs, values ​​and techniques that a community shares. It is also understood that a paradigm is a type of element of that set that acts as a model to work on different problems.

Scientific communities are defined by being a group of people who share the same paradigm. In this case, the two indicated senses of paradigm are supported.

Today The notion of paradigm coined by the American philosopher Thomas Kuhn is used. (1922-1996), who distinguished in the paradigms a disciplinary matrix and a sociological component.

History of the term “paradigm”

The term “paradigm” has such a degree of evolutionary and historical maturity that Its meaning is polysemic (which admits many possible meanings). From its first use in the Greek world to its contemporary conception, the word “paradigm” has changed significantly in its academic and everyday use and meaning.

The birth of the concept occurs simultaneously with its etymology. The word “paradigm” comes from Greek paradeigmawhich means “example”, “mold” or “pattern”. Plato used the word paradeigma to designate an instrument of mediation between the material world and ideas. Explaining that the material world functions in imitation of the world of ideas, he maintained that ideas are the paradeigmathe example or mold, of material things.

The deep meaning of the Platonic paradigm is not only that of an example or mold but that of an exemplary, perfect model, which must be followed and imitated. This is the same meaning given to the word “paradigm” in the field of grammar. For grammar, paradigm is a set of inflectional forms that a lexical unit takes and from which all possible examples are derived. They are the conjugation models of verbs.

In the field of sociology, the word “paradigm” began to be used following the works of Robert Merton (1910-2003) and Talcott Parsons (1902-1979) to refer to the mechanisms of social action and the organizational principles that underlie social structures. This sense of “paradigm” expands its original meaning, by also taking the idea of ​​foundation, not only of example or mold.

However, where the concept has had the greatest impact is in the scientific field, especially thanks to the work of Thomas Kuhn. Even before Kuhn's work, there was talk of “styles of thinking” and different models that functioned as modern antecedents to the current concept of paradigm.

Kuhn's definition maintains that a paradigm is a system of theories, concepts, values ​​and methodologies. shared by members of a scientific community. It is through these shared paradigms that, in the event of tensions, advances or progress in science, new paradigms are formed.

Scientific paradigm according to Kuhn

The modern and contemporary notion of “paradigm” responds to the work of Thomas Kuhn. Kuhn (1922-1996) was an American historian, physicist and philosopher who, starting in 1960, worked around the notion of paradigm.

Using the philosophical and sociological senses of paradigmKuhn established at least four ways of understanding what a paradigm.

• The paradigm as a universally recognized scientific achievement. It provides models of problems and solutions to any particular scientific community.
• The paradigm as a scientific achievement that lacks precedents. It attracts an enduring group of sympathizers but is not compatible enough with the rest of the scientific systems to leave problems unresolved.
• The paradigm of how a judicial decision is accepted. As a judicial decision in the field of law, the paradigm exercises a regulative and determining function.
• The paradigm as a scientific model shared by the members of a community. It is the common sense paradigm.

For Kuhn, a paradigm is made up of two parts. The first is a “disciplinary matrix” and the second is a “sociological component.”

• The disciplinary matrix involves symbolic generalizations of theories or laws. It is characterized by having particular or heuristic models (invented, discovered), symbolic expressions, shared values ​​and typical problem-solving models.
• The sociological factor or component works with the relationships that exist between the scientists that make up the shared paradigm community.

A typical example of a scientific community that shares a paradigm occurs in academic conferences. If we think of a conference on Saint Thomas Aquinas, those who attend will share the basic precepts and philosophical systems established by Thomistic thought.

Paradigm according to other authors

There are various definitions of the concept of paradigm, many of which do not entirely coincide with Kuhn's idea. Some of them are:

• First. A paradigm is a conception of the object of study of a science, its problems, its methods and the way in which it explains, interprets and understands its results.
• Second. A paradigm is a constellation of scopes, terms, values ​​and techniques that a scientific community has in common and that it uses to define problems and find legitimate solutions.
• Third. A paradigm is a system of beliefs, principles, values ​​and premises that determines the vision of a given scientific community.
• Quarter. A paradigm is a system of ideas that guides and organizes scientific research in a discipline.

Paradigm in social sciences and education

In the social sciences, as in the exact sciences, we work with different paradigms. The difference with mathematics or chemistry is that in the social sciences scientific rigor is based on different criteria, since a thorough demonstration is not required nor is it required to verify a hypothesis through tests.

The social sciences They are managed with quantitative paradigms and qualitative paradigms. Quantitative paradigms are those that seek knowledge that is as objective as possible, without taking into account the subjectivity of the actors involved and relying on statistical techniques and analysis of secondary data.

Qualitative paradigms, on the other hand, seek to understand the social meanings. Discourse analysis, social creativity and life stories are the tools that these paradigms use to understand how subjectivities and social behavior are linked.

Educational paradigms, for their part, refer to the way in which the educational act is thought about and understood, as well as the different pedagogical models that educational institutions put into practice. There are many educational paradigms. Some of them are even incompatible with each other.. The best known are the behaviorist, the cognitive, the environmentalist and the constructivist.

Paradigm shift

Thomas Kuhn, in his conception of the paradigm, argued that paradigm changes are “scientific revolutions”. When a model fails in its attempt to interpret reality, account for a problem or answer certain concerns, when there is a superior proposal or when a change occurs that alters the entire system, a paradigm shift occurs.

In popular language, we speak of “paradigm change” to refer to those situations in which perspectives, ways of behaving, or social trends change on a large scale.

References

• Briceño, T. (2009). The scientific paradigm and its foundation in the work of Thomas Kuhn. Time and space, 19(52), 285-296.
• Gallego, JDM (2007). From the concept of paradigm in Thomas S. Kuhn, to the paradigms of the cultural sciences. magistrate, 1(1), 73-88.
• Becerra, G., & Castorina, JA (2016). About the notion of “epistemic framework” of constructivism: A comparison with Kuhn's notion of “paradigm.” Ibero-American Journal of Science, Technology and Society, 11(31), 9-28.
• Ramos, CA (2015). The paradigms of scientific research. Advances in Psychology, 23(1), 9-17.