THOMAS KUHN: BIOGRAPHY, CONCEPT OF PARADIGM, OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS - PHILOSOPHY - 2025

Thomas Samuel Kuhn was a 20th century American physicist, historian, and philosopher of science. His research gave a significant contribution to the way of understanding how human beings construct knowledge.

Both his teachings in the university classrooms, as well as his books and studies showed an unsuspected path. With him, the notion of paradigm was consolidated, the Kuhntian school emerged and the processes that science follows to change the way of understanding life were drawn.

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Thomas Kuhn's approaches have influenced numerous subsequent studies. The researcher distanced himself from the traditional vision implanted by religions, he even distanced himself from the positivism of the nineteenth century.

His vision set aside the dogmatism of structuralism, functionalism, and Marxism itself. He even advanced towards the possibility of the coexistence of multiple paradigms within the same space-time. His life and his work show, in practice, how dogmas oppose the advancement of knowledge.

Biography

On July 18, 1922, Thomas Samuel Kuhn Stroock was born in Cincinnatti, Ohio. He was the son of two intellectuals of Jewish origin: Samuel Kuhn, an industrial engineer, and Minette Stroock, a progressive writer and wealthy by birth.

The Kuhn family had no religious practice and was of socialist ideas. Consequently, Tom - as Thomas was familiarly called - went to Lincoln School until he was five years old. This institution was characterized by an open, non-standardized training.

Later, the family moved to Croton-on-Hudson. There Thomas studied between the ages of six and nine at the Hessian Hills School with radical teachers.

Due to his father's work, Tom changed educational institutions several times. At 18 he graduated from The Taft School in Watertown, New York state.

Following in his father's footsteps, he went to Harvard University, where he studied physics. At first he had doubts with the calculations, but encouraged by the teachers, he took a dizzying pace. At the age of 21, he already obtained a degree.

Thomas, once a physics graduate, joined the Theoretical Group of the Radio Research Laboratory. His job was to find how to counter German radars. In 1943, he traveled to Great Britain, then to France and finally to Berlin itself. He eventually returned to Harvard.

At the age of 24 he obtained a master's degree, and then at the age of 27 he managed to complete his doctorate with honors.

Marriages

In 1948 he married Kathryn Muhs, with whom he had two daughters and a son. The marriage, which lasted 30 years, ended with the death of his partner. Kathryn was a woman dedicated to the home and to support her husband. According to the newspaper notes of the time, she was full of kindness and sweetness.

His first wife passed away in 1978. Three years later he married Jehane Barton Burns, also a writer and a graduate of the same institution where his mother studied. She accompanied him until the last day of his life.

In 1994, at age 72, Kuhn was diagnosed with lung cancer. Two years later, on June 17, 1996, he passed away.

Social and political context

Two years before its birth, in the middle of the war, the US had entered a deep economic crisis that caused major strikes in the meat and steel industries.

The left parties favored the vote of women and the electoral roll doubled. Ohio, a northern state, was characterized by its industrial potential. That caused that by the beginning of the decade of the 20s, it knew 35% unemployment.

During his youth and after finishing his university studies, Kuhn flirted with a social organization that was opposed to participating in any war.

Thomas' dedication to the investigation earned him permanent recognition. He was incorporated as a member of the Harvard Society of Fellows, which is still today an academic organization that chooses its members for their creative capacity and intellectual potential.

Those selected are awarded a scholarship for three years. During that time, the laureates must grow personally and intellectually in other areas of their interest. Thomas delved into the History and Philosophy of Science.

He began to study Aristotle and, realizing how impossible it was to understand the contributions of the Greek genius outside of their historical context, took a turn. He analyzed how science was taught in universities, and understood that general notions were based on dogmatic principles.

Laboral life

Coming from an open, inclusive background, the prevailing dogmatism obviously made Kuhn unbearable.

Between 1948 and 1956, he taught History of Science at Harvard. She then transferred to the University of California, Berkley, and worked in parallel in the departments of History and Philosophy. California has been characterized, since its inception, by hosting a sui generis, complex, multicultural community, even socially rebellious.

At the age of 40, Thomas Khun published his book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, a work that put on the table of scholars a new category of analysis, a novel concept: the paradigm.

In 1964, he returned to the northern United States. Princeton University, Pennsylvania, added him to their team and presented him with the Moses Taylos Pyne Chair in Philosophy and History of Science.

In that nation, universities tend to create chairs with the names of sponsors and philanthropists, who finance academic and research activities.

At 47, Khun presided over the Society for the History of Science. Seven years later, in 1979, he was hired by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He became a professor of philosophy at the "Laurence S. Rockefeller" Chair.

Paradigm concept

One of the greatest contributions of Thomas Kuhn is the notion of paradigm. The scientist sought to understand the conceptions that allow science to advance.

Until then, the dominant position was that science evolved in a continuous line. This was linked to the biologist notion of Darwinism that prevailed in the thinking and action of knowing.

However, Kuhn realized that when it comes to building knowledge, there is a community. It is made up of a group of researchers who share the same vision and the same procedures.

So, by analyzing historical processes, Thomas perceived that there are times when that thought weakens. A crisis occurs, and that generates a leap: new theories appear.

It is from this understanding that Kuhn built the concept of paradigm. He defined it as the belief system shared by the scientific community, common values, the ways in which they are operationalized.

The paradigm derives from a worldview, that is, from the way a human group understands life itself. This worldview leads to define how to act accordingly. It tells how to understand physical, biological, chemical, social, political or economic phenomena.

Practical example

A good example to understand the concept of paradigm is a community that defines itself from the creationist vision and the existence of a superior being. For her, everything responds to a divine plan. That is not questioned, so the origin is defined beforehand.

So wanting to know, doing science, consists in studying consequences and processes. No one questions the origin or seeks to understand it.

With the concept of paradigm, it can be understood that a scientific community can start from different worldviews. Consequently, according to the paradigm, the way of doing, of responding, will vary. The way of understanding will depend on the historical and sociological elements of each community.

Kuhn indicated that several factors influence the paradigmatic notion of a community where the interests of scientists lie. The financial resources available for your research are also important.

Another factor is the interests of the groups that finance the studies. Furthermore, the norms and values ​​of the members of the community in question have a very marked impact.

Stages of science according to Kuhn

Thomas Kuhn's contributions to science were multiple. His less dogmatic vision allowed him to let go of the prejudices and limitations that grew stronger over the centuries.

As a historian of the philosophy of science, he determined three stages through which the different processes of knowledge pass.

Foresight

First is the foreknowledge phase. This can be defined by the non-existence of a central paradigm that allows conducting research on a specific path. Such a path must have techniques and procedures common to the community of researchers involved.

Normal science

The next stage is the emergence of a normal science. This is how Kuhn baptized it. This happens when the scientific community tries to solve questions that distress its society.

This occurs at a specific time and is valid for specific human groups. By starting from a paradigm accepted by the majority, questions that no one would have asked are being answered.

Revolutionary science

In this security framework, sooner or later, some dissent will emerge. A third stage is then reached: revolutionary science. This term is used because the foundations of certainty are going to be demolished, and everything changes.

The crisis of doubt arises because the tools to know stop working before the phenomena studied. This leads to conflict and at that moment a new paradigm emerges.

There are authors who point out that Thomas Kuhn has a predecessor who handled the issue first. It is about the Hungarian Michael Polanyi, who also came to the philosophy of science from physicochemistry.

They both had many discussions and public lectures together. Even in the foreword to his first book, Kuhn publicly thanked him for his contributions to his research.

References

1. González, F. (2005). What is a paradigm? Theoretical, conceptual and psycholinguistic analysis of the term. Research and Postgraduate, 20 (1). Recovered at: redalyc.or
2. Guillaumin, G. (2009). Epistemological relativism seen through Thomas Kuhn's theory of scientific change. Relations. History and Society Studies, 30 (120). Recovered at: redalyc.org
3. Kuhn, TS (2013). The structure of scientific revolutions (Vol. 3). Mexico DF: Economic Culture Fund. Retrieved from: www.academia.edu
4. Kuhn, TS, & Helier, R. (1996). The essential tension. Economic Culture Fund. Mexico. Recovered at: academia.edu
5. Lakatos, I., Feigl, H., Hall, RJ, Koertge, N., & Kuhn, TS (1982). History of science and its rational reconstructions (pp. 9-73). Madrid: Tecnos. Recovered at: dcc.uchile.cl