Skepticism, not certainty, became their watchword. (ibid)
The implication of Kuhn's work was that science was seen to be dependent on history. It was no longer superior to historical analysis but could only be understood within the context of history. This too is another post-modern concept which is very important in deconstruction theory. "Philosophers therefore turned to a more serious study of history than they would have considered desirable even a few years earlier. They also learned more about the internal workings of the sciences than their earlier, much more abstract epistemological approach would ever have justified or even tolerated." (ibid)
3. Postmodern thought
Thomas Kuhn's groundbreaking work in the field of the philosophy of science is often quoted as a cardinal factor in the development of post modern and post-structural thought. While the consequences - and the differences - between the theory of paradigm shift and postmodernism are complex and intricate there are a number of central issues that outline this relationship. One of the cardinal concepts is the idea of non-linear progression which is a fundamental phrase used in postmodern discourse.
The key to understanding the relationship between Kuhn's work and modern art as well as post-structure linguistic theory lies in the term irrational and the attack on a logocentric view of reality. Non-linearity means that advancement in science takes place in a non-logical, seemingly irrational way. The idea of a nonlinear world and a non-logocentric vision are essential aspects in understanding the works of postmodern and post-structural philosophers like Derrida and Lacan.
Another possibility that was opened up by Kuhn's work was that due to the relative nature of scientific knowledge, science becomes just another 'fiction' which could be deconstructed or shown to be built up of contingent precepts and context-related perceptions of reality.
As Kuhn's interpretation took hold, a new generation of historians of science turned to examine the social contexts in which science had been pursued; favorite topics included the institutions of science, and sophisticated analyses of science and religious belief. In the history of medicine in particular this was complemented by Michel Foucault's Discipline and Punish (1977) and the Order of Things (1970), which fertilized a growing perception that medicine in the past might have more to do with other aspects of life and conduct in the past than with medicine in the present.
Boon 38)
This aspect is strengthened by the central fact that from this point-of-view science is no longer seen objectively but rather as essentially subjective. Scientific theory is viewed as relative to the scientist or researchers' particular position and orientation in time and space.
The scientist's observations are already profoundly affected by a congeries of subjective elements. His point was simply that the encompassed and embedded subject is always surrounded by certain horizons, the forestructure of the inquiring interpreter, which inexorably and profoundly affect the researcher's understanding of the 'observed facts'. Because of the essential Vorverstandnis of the scientist, Kuhn concluded that there was no "basic vocabulary consisting entirely of words which are attached to nature in ways that are unproblematic and, to the extent necessary, independent of theory."
Guarino)
3.1 What is Postmodern?
In order to fully comprehend the implications of Kuhn's theories one has to understand how postmodernism developed from modernism. Many people are confused by the term postmodern. It has become a term that is bandied about in intelligent conversation, while many people use it loosely to mean almost anything new and innovative. Postmodernism is related to the term 'modernism'. Post means to come after. In other words, postmodern thought is that which comes after or develops from modernistic thought. Firstly one has to understand modernism.
Modernism refers to a certain period of western cultural, artistic and sociological history. This period covers the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries - including the devastating effects of the First Word War on European consciousness.
Coupled with events like war were discoveries in science and other disciplines which overturned centuries of belief and convention. One needs only think of Einstein and relativity theory and Freud and the theory of the unconscious, in this regard. Freud's theory of the unconscious opened up a new world of previously unimagined human experience and led to a new perception of the self as well as new art and art forms. Karl Jung continued this idea and developed the theory of archetypes that suggests that all humanity, across cultural and racial barriers, share a common memory. There were many other historical, philosophical and scientific changes during this period. The common factor here is...
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