Paradigm

Etymology

The word paradigm holds its origin of the old word Greek παράδειγμα / paradeigma which means “model” or “example”. This word itself comes from παραδεικνύναι / paradeiknunai which means “to show”.

General uses of the word paradigm

Out of the Science, the word paradigm most frequently gets busy in the direction of Weltanschauung (perception of the world). For example, in the Social sciences, the term is employed to describe the whole of experiments, beliefs and values which influence the way in which an individual perceives reality and reacts to this perception. This system of representation enables him to define the environment, to communicate in connection with this environment, to even try to include/understand it or to envisage it.

The other function of the paradigm, is useful for a third observer (which observes that which uses this paradigm). This observer will be able to make remarks and to form an opinion about the way in which observed came to use this paradigm: we define what goes quickly or slowly compared to our own rate of travel, the man who lived in nature can define the modern objects as useless or malefic…

The word was used in a way superabundant of the end of the Années 1980 at the end of the Années 1990 to motivate the employees of the Entreprise S to accept important changes not always in their favor. For this reason, one often finds it in the pastiches of managerial speeches (for example in Dilbert ).

The paradigm like common representation

The paradigm with the collective direction is a system of Représentation S largely accepted in a particular field. However, the paradigms tend to differ according to the social groups and to change in time according to the evolution of the Connaissance S (case in particular of the scientific paradigms).

Epistemological and sociological paradigm

At the beginning of the 19th century, the word paradigm was employed like epistemological term to indicate a model of thought in scientific disciplines .

In this context, the most widespread employment is at the Philosophe and Sociologue of sciences Thomas Kuhn which used it to indicate a whole of practices in science. The term is however often inappropriate and Kuhn itself preferred to use the terms of exemplary science and normal science which seemed to him to contain a more exact philosophical direction. However, in its book the structure of the scientific revolutions , Kuhn defines a scientific paradigm as follows :

a whole of Observation S and established facts,
a whole of questions in relation to the subject which arise and must be solved,
of the methodological indications (how these questions must be posed),
how the results of the scientific research must be interpreted.

For Kuhn, adhesion with a paradigm is a sociological phenomenon , which implies the genesis of a community of thought, methods and objectives, around common tools (newspapers, conferences).

Other terms like concept or system of thought are very close to that of paradigm. They are different on details and for including/understanding their significance well, one must take into account the context of the treated topic.

Imre Lakatos tried to develop the concept in a dialectical way under the name of research program.

A simple definition in the scientific context would be: The whole of the rules allowed and interiorized like “standards” by the scientific community, at a given moment of its history, to delimit and problématiser the “facts” which she considers worthy of study.

The paradigm in social science also corresponds to the grid of reading which allows the interpretation of data by the mobilization of specific theoretical tools. One raises for example in social sciences:

the paradigm of the birth of capitalism, to see max Weber, Protestant Ethics and the spirit of capitalism
the paradigm of the authorized capital, to see Pierre Bourdieu, Authorized capital
the paradigm of the conflicts of classes, to see Marxism, Class struggle
the paradigm of the democracy, to see Alexis de Tocqueville, Of the democracy in America

Linguistic paradigm

In Linguistic, the paradigm is the whole of the different forms which a word can take, in particular in the inflected languages. Thus, the paradigm of the verb to be with the present of the indicative is: am , are , is , sums , are , are .

One commonly opposes it to Syntagme , within the framework of the opposition between paradigmatic and syntagmatic axis. The first axis relates to the choice of the words themselves, the second the choice of their placement in the stated. That is to say the statement “Let us pass, pass since any master key” (Guillaume Apollinaire, “Hunting horns”, Alcools ): the statement “Let us sleep, sleep since all sleeps” is obtained by a paradigmatic modification while “Since any master key, pass, pass” is the result of a modification on the syntagmatic axis…

The paradigm in other authors

The paradigm would approach what Heidegger names the Mondanéité, the whole of significances, of references in which the Dasein being in the world is driven. A paradigm is a delimited field resting on a system of assumptions of which one is not a priori conscious. It is thus a superstructure (with the direction marxien) adapted in a certain state of the development, and the Histoire of sciences proceeds by revolutions ( paradigm shifts ).

This quotation of Montesquieu date of the 18th century (century of the Lights) “ Aujourd'hui we receive three different or contrary educations: those of our fathers, those of our Masters, that of the world. What one says to us in the last shift all the ideas of the first ”.

Michel Foucault speaks about épistémè, system of Représentation S which relates to all the configuration of the To know at a given time.

Edgar Morin studies in-depth the concept of paradigm in volume 4 of the Method : Ideas. It is expressed as follows: " We are with the preliminary in the constitution of a paradigm of complexity itself necessary to the constitution of a Paradigmatologie. It is not of the individual task of a thinker but about the historical work of a convergence of pensées."

See too

Heuristic
Even
Doxa
Representation
New Paradigm (Concept Old New)

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