Kuhn says that “normal science” is
research squarely based on one or more past
scientific achievements. The scientific
community is required to see
these
achievements as a foundation for further research in the same field. Now these achievements are recorded in
textbooks for schools and colleges.
Before textbooks, works by Aristotle, Newton, Franklin and others filled
this purpose. These works defined the
problems and methods of research for future generations to use. These achievements could serve as
foundations because they drew groups away from competing versions of
scientific activity and because they were also open-ended enough to leave problems for
others to solve.
Kuhn
calls achievements with these characteristics “paradigms.” He feels that since these will be the basis
of further research that there will not be any disagreement over the
fundamentals. The people that use this
research or paradigms will be using the same basic rules and standards for
practice. For the continuing of a
particular subject these are the prerequisites for normal science.
Kuhn
admits however that there will be variants in the history of specific sciences
such are the case with light. Modern
textbooks show that light is made of photons instead of waves as was believed
earlier. This resulted in the
transformation from one paradigm to another, which is a natural developmental
pattern of science.
Science
has to develop for a while before it acquires a readily received paradigm. An example of this comes from electrical
research in the eighteenth century where many different views were held about
the nature of electricity. All of these
versions were derived from one or another version of the mechanico-corpuscular
philosophy that guided research in those days.
They were also drawn from scientific theories and observations of the
time. But even thought they were based
on the same concepts, the different views did not have much resemblance.