Research On The Evolution And Application Of Kuhn's 'Paradigm'

Since Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Science Revolutions (1962) was published, the term paradigm, an important and creativity concept of this book, has quickly spread to many other disciplines and been widely accepted as a popular word. The intrinsic connotation of"paradigm"has correspondingly been enriched and enlarged so significantly that nowadays its meaning has been expanded far beyond its original implication.Whether there is a paradigm is a prolonged argument in science. But no matter whether there are paradigms in other disciplines, and if there are, whatever they develop, scholars in such disciplines outside the field of philosophy have seemingly responded these inquiries by action, adopting paradigm as a tool unfalteringly in analyzing their own disciplines. Without necessary training in philosophy, these scholars, more or less, misunderstand paradigm to some extent, widening or lessening even overturning its intrinsic meaning, and as a result, applying it inappropriately. Therefore, it is necessary for us to rectify these misconceptions so that we can re-examine the real features of paradigm. This thesis elucidates the meaning of paradigm in Kuhn's eyeshot by analyzing his books and papers of different periods, reaches a conclusion that there are two parts of his paradigm in philosophical sense which are respectively paradigmâ… and paradigmâ…¡, and demonstrates accordingly thereafter. Based on this, the conditions of using"paradigm"in other disciplines are emphatically discussed, so some questions are found by comparing with the philosophical meaning of paradigm and the ways to exploit paradigm are argued in different domains. Subsequently, the jungle period of the management theory is taken as a study case for analysis of paradigm in the field of management science, asserting that management should be divided into two fields, management practice and management theory in this process, because there are diversities for the same elements in the context of each of the two communities. In the last place, the development of other disciplinary domains, except natural science, is briefly discussed and envisioned in this thesis.