Thomas Kuhns Impact on Science Education: What Lessons Can be Learned by Matthews, M. R - Assignment Example

Matthews (2003) compares Kuhn’s influence on education to Sigmund Freud’s influence on psychology.  According to Matthews (2003), just as Freud popularized the term “unconscious”, Kuhn popularized the term “paradigm” (p. 91).  Kuhn’s (1962/1996) paradigm theory relates to Kuhn’s conceptualization of “normal science” which is a research technique grounded by universal concept, theory, test, and methodology (p. 23). According to Matthews (2003), when Kuhn wrote The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, created an entirely different conceptualization of science and in doing so impacted “science education theory and research” (p. 91). Matthews (2003) begins by offering some insight into Kuhn as a philosopher.

Kuhn was more of a “historian of science” and with no formal philosophical background was a self-described “amateur” philosopher (p. 91). Nevertheless, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions influenced philosophical argument disproportionate to the philosophical discussion contained in the actual book. Regardless, Kuhn still managed to articulate an apparently “new” and “epistemological paradigm, or theory of scientific knowledge” (Matthews, 2003, p. 92).More specifically, Kuhn’s book: .

gave a modern, scientifically informed, philosophical legitimacy to much older relativist and skeptical traditions in epistemology (Matthews, 2003, p. 92). For example, ancient Protagoreans such as Plato and other realist philosophers argued that what appeared to be just was just. Influenced by Kuhn’s book, modern Protagoreans would argue that scientific truths and decisions were “intratheoretic” and a rational conclusion can be drawn by looking more closely at conflicting theories (Matthews, 2003, p. 92). Modern Protagoreans, took a more Kuhnian position arguing that “different paradigms saw different things” and not simply “saw the same thing differently”: ontological claim vs epistemological claim (Matthews, 2003, p. 93).  Since this pattern could be observed in science, it can be observed in literature, art, history, music, and politics (Matthews, 2003).