Paradigm

A paradigm is a fundamental way of thinking. In a narrower sense, it is a particular school of thought or belief. The replacement of one paradigm by another is called a paradigm shift.

Etymology

The word comes from the Greek παράδειγμα paradeigma consisting of παρὰ para " beside" and δείκνυμι deiknymi " show ", " made ​​to understand ". Translated it means " example ", " model ", " pattern " or " delineation ", " Prejudice"; also " world view " or " ideology ".

The majority of paradigm is paradigms or paradigms.

Philosophy in Antiquity

In Aristotle, the inductive argument in the rhetoric is paradeigma ( according to Aristotle ), namely the example. In contrast to other inductive argument is in this case is not of special cases of a general through, but of a particular case to another particular of the same kind

The scientific paradigm

Since the late 18th century, used the word paradigm in order to designate a certain scientific way of thinking or a certain type of worldview. The concept of paradigm was introduced by Georg Christoph Lichtenberg. In the classic German you can use the term in the sense of different (scientific ) "schools". Good examples of such a " fundamental world view " are the geocentric world view ( Ptolemy ) or the heliocentric world view ( Nicolaus Copernicus ).

However, the most common way of using the word in this context, goes back to the American philosopher of science Thomas S. Kuhn (1922-1996), who understands by " doctrine " and thus describes a set of procedures. In his book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, he defines a " scientific paradigm " as:

• That is what observed and checked
• The type of questions that are posed in relation to an issue and to be inspected
• How these questions are asked
• How the results of scientific study should be interpreted

Kuhn meant by a paradigm that is a predominant thought patterns in a given time. Paradigms reflect a consensus on certain generally accepted assumptions and beliefs that make it possible to offer solutions for a variety of issues. In science one uses in this context also often model concepts by which one attempts to explain phenomena. ( Mission Statement )

According to Kuhn, a paradigm is long recognized to occur phenomena that are not compatible with the previously valid doctrine. Then, new theories are developed, which sometimes prevail immediately, sometimes after lengthy discussions between proponents of different schools of thought. The self-assertion of a new school of thought or the process of opinion turnaround is called a paradigm shift.

On the Nymphenburg lecture of 1984, Kuhn has adopted publicly after about 34 unsuccessful attempts to define the term " paradigm ". For further information see Kuhn's paradigm concept.

A common use today textbook definition, such as from a textbook of personality psychology, such as the following: "A scientific paradigm is a reasonably coherent, shared by many scientists bundle of theoretical guidelines, issues and methods, the longer historical periods survived in the development of a science. "

A conceptual analysis gave Margaret Masterman 1970.

The paradigm as an epistemological model

Giorgio Agamben defines in his essay " Signatura Rerum " the paradigm as "a form of knowledge that is neither inductive, is still deductively, but analogically, thus progresses from one particular to another particular. ". Agamben refers in this connection to the paradigm - understanding of his teacher, Michel Foucault as a " description of discourse as a historical articulation of a paradigm " and shows the relationship between Foucault's epistemological paradigm understanding and the standards forming concept Thomas S. Kuhn, taking on the double meaning of the term paradigm indicating Kuhn: Kuhn's paradigm therefore corresponds on the one hand a " disciplinary matrix " as "that which the members of a scientific community share with each other, a set of techniques, models and values," but is also " for a single element of this set, for the Newton 's Principia for the Almagest of Ptolemy: for an element serving as a common example, the place of explicit rules occurs and thus defines a specific, self-contained research tradition "

Kuhn defines paradigms as " universally recognized scientific achievements that for a time a community of professionals provide authoritative Problems and Solutions" ). Agamben goes with his paradigm - definition back to the philosophical roots of the term in Aristotle's Analytica priora, where it says, " that the functioning of the paradigm is not a part that behaves to a whole, nor of a whole which behaves to a part, but the one part that is related to a part " ( Analytica priora, 69a 13f ) Agamben adds this: " the epistemological statute of the paradigm will only be clear when we radicalize the thesis of Aristotle and begin to understand that he represents the dichotomous opposition between the particular and the universal in question. " The " epistemic statute " refers specifically to Agamben medical semiotics of Paracelsus: "The idea that all things wear a sign that manifests their invisible properties and reveals, forms the core of the origin Paracelsian episteme ". The function of the paradigm is thus according to Agamben in the transmission of the signature of the source term

In his much -quoted article " Clues: Roots of a Scientific Paradigm " refers Carlo Ginzburg paradigm, with explicit reference to Kuhn also as " epistemological model " and explained concretely the circumstantial paradigm as a pattern of interpretation, whose origin lies in medical semiotics and as " Morelli method " was known. The physician and art critic Giovanni Morelli managed to prove forgeries of old masters as well as the authorship of unsigned painting by details such as ears and fingernails. Freud was on Morelli early attention and describes the technology - which, as Ginzburg stressed, very similar to the meticulous search for traces of Sherlock Holmes has in " The Moses of Michelangelo" (1914 ) as follows: " I think his method is the technology of medical psychoanalysis closely related. This is also accustomed, from despised or no attention moves ( ... ) to guess the hidden " Ginzburg's " semiotic " paradigm understanding is consistent with Kuhn, science as " " defined, the " puzzle solving could only hinder lack of ingenuity ". Kuhn himself has the Polish physician Ludwik Fleck, whose " thinking style ", " the inside of a thought collective relevant from not relevant in defining " as the authoritative source of his paradigm - understanding in the preface of his standard work.

The semiotics in their self- understanding as a " process hypothesis ( and ) methodological network that we have thrown about the variety of phenomena in order to speak of them can " is so well background of Kuhn's paradigm concept. Its beginnings as a science are (besides the character theory of Charles Peirce ) with Ferdinand de Saussure, which a " semiology as Translingustik " hovered. So also supply the linguistics and after the " linguistic turn " linguistically oriented philosophy contributions to the concept of paradigm. Syntagma and paradigm are as elements of the synchronous structure key terms with Ferdinand de Saussure, who is known as the founder of linguistics but also as the main initiator of structuralism. Kuhn explicitly refers to Ludwig Wittgenstein, who describes the paradigm as " something that is compared " ( Philosophical Investigations § 50) and of " family resemblances " speaks ( § 66f ). Saussure emphasized " the arbitrariness of the verbal sign which, because conventionally, contains no inner and consequently stable relationship to its meaning ." This character of the convention -Wittgenstein speaks of " language games " - is fundamental to Kuhn's paradigm understanding, which is also a structuralist. So Kuhn mentioned in the preface of his main work of Benjamin Whorf, who believes that the structures of language shape the thinking and Jean Piaget, who has produced the psychological structures of personality development.

Kuhn himself on a stringent definition of its paradigm - concept ultimately omitted. While the structuralist components of his work are more likely to associatively linked, the history of science provides the concrete reference point for his thesis. In the preface of his main work, he shall designate the works of Alexandre Koyré, Emile Meyerson, Helene Metzger and Anneliese Meyer, whose study it " almost as important as the primary source material " ( ibid ) was. After the revolution in physics by relativity and quantum theory, which " has caused a feeling as if the ground on which the science is pulled away under our feet " there were history of science and philosophy of science in a general upheaval that with in France Gaston Bachelard in epistemology led their self-understanding and methodology with the theses of Kuhn in many respects matches and in their tradition, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault and Giorgio Agamben stand.

It can be seen as the paradigm of understanding Kuhn, Agamben and Ginzburg a context of structuralism, epistemology and semiotics. Kuhn's "Structure of Scientific Revolutions " shows the structure of the paradigm in their synchronic and diachronic elements of the agreement and the History of Science. Agamben provides the function of the paradigm as an update of the character in the transmission of the signature to the center of his interpretation. If, according to Jean Piaget, a system from the connection between structure and function is ), the paradigm can be understood as a systematic method of theory building. Ginzburg finally gives in to the semiotic component of the reconstruction of the view of an extended "dynamic " understanding of the paradigm as an epistemological model. " To show how the cultural processes underlying systems " Semiotics in its intention is based on the " dialectic between structures and historical process ", which is evident as a dialectic of system and process for Kuhn in the concept of paradigm shift.

According to current Hegel - interpretation is the concept of Pradigmenwechsels " avant la lettre " already laid the foundation for in Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit: " Modern spoken, phenomenology focuses on the paradigm shift or the consequence of fundamental crises of science, morality, etc. " Thus, the change takes place in such that " different time (but not always consecutive ) Item conceptions ' are connected by a dialectical movement that ultimately, semantic relations ' of the concepts underlying back. ". These semantic relations are also reflected in Agamben's concept of "signature" and pointed out by Ginzburg circumstantial paradigm.

The term " paradigm " in linguistics

In linguistics, the word " paradigm " as defined below:

• A pattern formed by ordered attributes and values ​​that models the set of forms of a word and a form class represents ( inflection paradigm of verbs or nouns, conjugation, as, for example, sing - sang - sung, or declination )
• A function that the shape assignment of the individual positions of the paradigm provides for a given word and a given word class
• A ( unique ) collection of ( vertical level ) interchangeable characters ( elements ) of the same ( part of speech ) category, such as "the dog / tiger / fish eats" or the Anlautkonsonanten in B-/G-/T-/Vier

Variants

• The onomasiological paradigm arises from a single linguistic term on or designat and its individual languages ​​implementation, such as salary, wages, salary, income, etc.
• The semasiological paradigm arises from certain common features of lexemes, which are determined by commutation / substitution.

Other uses of " paradigm "

The term " paradigm " is also used for a narrative that " explains examples of a moral doctrine " in. For example, fairy tales can be described in a broader sense as paradigms.

The word is used in science, engineering and business with very different meanings; particular, for example in the computer field or the management literature. It is less for a comprehensive belief or view, as in the original ( epistemological ) sense, as for a special, focused perspective on a ( basic as possible ) aspect of the respective subject area. So " software reuse ", for example, spoken (called a programming paradigm ), the paradigm of teamwork, or lean production ( lean production ) from the paradigm. Here is a fundamental attitude to a class of phenomena (but not to an individual ) the term " paradigm ".

The advertising or marketing uses the term " paradigm " to make products appear to be particularly new and innovative in order to gain greater attention.

In the organization theory, there is the concept of corporate culture. One of the most cited models is the cultural network by G. Johnson ( 1998), described as a network of internal structures and processes that continuously generate the self-perception of an organization as well as strengthen. The seven elements mentioned the cultural network are: stories and myths, symbols, power structures, organizational structures, control systems, rituals and routines - and the paradigm.

In the science of behavior is referred to with the term " paradigm " a classic Prejudice: An emotion -related, absolute rating ( good / bad) before it can take place a rational processing of information (see also thought patterns ). New is also the term " Paradigmenparalyse " used ( paralysis by prejudice ). This describes that logical thought processes - and consistent action in the sequence - by prejudice ( paradigms ) is interrupted, crippled ( paralyzed ) or can be prevented.

In psychosomatic medicine, the term machine paradigm is needed by Thure von Uexküll, in order to distinguish the more holistic view of the psychosomatic of the purely organic oriented medicine. The body medicine have made through the model physics, the reductionist machine model to own. The physics has succeeded to "develop a self-contained theory of the mechanical forces and to liberate the notion of causality from him still adhering to metaphysical ideas. "

Next, the word " paradigm ", particularly in developmental psychology, understood as a trial arrangement or experimental design, which was developed based on a particular assumption or theory.

In the 1980s, the physicist Fritjof Capra and esoteric has the term " paradigm shift " is used to characterize the postulated by turning him into a harmonious liberal and holistic new age.

The term " paradigm " is so very blurry and defined " soft ": It is difficult to define in general, which statement constitutes a paradigm and which are not (if it is a good example of an injunction ).