There obviously is structure (form) in Reality |
Human made laws are always grotesque simplifications, of some paradigm (a subreality) |
 [fascism is always 'surprise attack'; mouse over] |
There obviously is structure (form) in Reality |
Human made laws are always grotesque simplifications, of some paradigm (a subreality) |
[fascism is always 'surprise attack'; mouse over] |
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| Rule | Peep | Rule | Rule |
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Henk Tuten
The 'rational' view is a 'spiritual' (virtual) perception of life.
Peeping out of the 'rational' aquarium at reality through 'law and order' gloryholes constructed of 'rational' stones (called 'natural laws').
The Red Indian aquarium Northern America was filled with protestant white piranhas who 'removed' all 'godless' Red Indians to
make a white United States Empire.
Catholic Portugal in Red Indian Brazil luckily never succeeded in doing so.
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Local 'pictures of reality' are illusions (views or lies) that pretend an 'ALL truth', truth is Relative and Limitless: there will ALWAYS be Puzzles| It seems to be a stubborn myth that paradigm shifts only concern science and are gradual change Believing that smooth change causes Jihads like that of Osama bin Laden is being brainwashed by the religion 'rationality'. |
Kuhn follows Giambattista Vico: looking at history as sequence of myths (Kuhnian paradigms or religions).| Thomas Kuhn used difficult words but Kuhn saw knowledge as DISCRETE accumulation of all that had been learned over history. Each added rule adding to the 'mass of knowledge'.
Kuhn saw knowledge-gathering as having, at any one time, a 'scientific' world view, or 'kuhnian paradigm', of its environment.
"[the rules that] a community of [..] specialists have in common.
This paradigm describes everything which the local total knowledge holds, all of its rituals that make local life.
Kuhn failed to recognize virtual paradigms, because as professor in his own paradigm
he was used to take virtuality as metamodel of reality Tricky is that professor Kuhn thus failed to differentiate between paradigm (local reality) and conceptual scheme, (substituting sense with 'theories/words'). Kuhn sensed that most 'scientists' and 'historians of science' behave like priests within 'the local existing paradigm. Eventually, terrorism arises for which the paradigm of the dominant culture has no fitting ritual behavior. And the 'priests' start war on terrorism. Kuhn evaded changing the paradigm in reality by staying professor (fighting with way to difficult words)
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Quote Thomas Kuhn: [..] the research scientist is not an innovator but a solver of puzzles, and the puzzles upon which he
concentrates are just those which he believes can be both stated and solved within
the existing scientific tradition Addition Zarah2nd: All cultures are language games with specific rules. Research is labeling rules in definitions. Until the next game. |
| In the years following the publication of Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, fierce word fights took place with fanatic fans of Popper's doctrine of falsificationism, such as Imre Lakatos. |
| Battle with Words |
| A fundamentalist fan of Karl Popper in a desperate defense states that the notion 'incommensurable' itself is incoherent. If he means that it not necessarily has a 'rational' explanation, he might be right.
Then similar is saying: (1) Incommensurability is not 'rational'. (2) I am a strict follower of the doctrine rationality. (3) I don't believe in 'incommensurability'. Fake advantage of having only the way of life 'science': temporary ethical compromise Another defense is the presuming of existence of 'true science'. Like the labels 'good' and 'evil' this serves to say that believing in paradigms is 'evil' and not 'true science' |
Confusing is that when imagining evolution to be an Ethics Workshop, then Kuhn only writes about how workshops handle slight changes in model, not about the campaign to launch a new design.
Kuhn shows how workshops (like 'science') can temporarily survive, and in fact unwillingly SUPPORTS
the resistance of the 'Karl Popper clan'. He has no intention at all to finish 'science'.| Calling Kuhn an intellectual coward must be based on not grasping the extreme moods raised by a total paradigm shift.
Kuhn proved great wisdom not to start a paradigm shift that he must have thought as triggering moods that he was unable to handle. In this case he would have started the End of Science.
The same scientists that use such unrespectful terms already start 'throwing mud' when only reading these 3 words. In the past people attacking The Rational World Paradigm first until 1750 were completely ignored until death (Giambattista Vico), and later portrayed as devil (Friedrich Nietzsche). A fine example though of how confusing total paradigm shifts are (Reality Redesigns). Like poisonous snakes traditional scientists strike to anyone who use 'wrong' words (no offense, snakes are beautiful and effective creatures). The brilliant poisononous words are 'injected' through freedom of speech using the media. |
| Scientists are of all ages (snakes in the paradise, in the time of Jesus in Palestine called Pharisees). Nice but instinctively vehemently reacting people (meaning perfectly and completely adapted to their self created environment (paradigm). After Enlightenment industrialism brought us Managers and Modern 'Slavery'. Do managers really deserve more salary? Only the myth to see intelligence as mainly IQ provides managers with much more income. No reason at all to deserve more RESPECT. To defend their own way of life scientists/managers/politicians use power thinking and send common soldiers to war. Obviously thinking to exchange evil and good', but snakelike behavior seen from other cultures. |
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A brilliant work about 'knowledge' is Thomas Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
Kuhn showed without doubt the most remarkable thinking since Friedrich Nietzsche. The introduced notion 'paradigm' has the power
to have world history rewritten. Even Kuhn though didn't seem to realize that humans only invent the tools that trigger paradigm shifts. After 'setup' by some famous human, a system of thought behaves like an independent dream.
Without Rene Descartes there would be no rational behavior, but you don't need to know Descartes at all to behave rational.
By the way: in the past the following procedure was believed to be the only sure method to stop the murderous mood of zombies: decapitation.
Unlike the physicist Einstein who looked at the world through a magnifying glass the physicist/philosopher Thomas Kuhn was of the type Galileo Galilei.
As physicist he knew to be working with IDEAS about the world. But by chance he also realized that 'dreams' in formal science use the in that culture temporarily dominant logic (ethics) and can result in consistent PARALLEL views,
i.e. different concepts being 'true' within by their own creativity produced logical 'mind-worlds' (cultures).
That's why Kuhn tried to create an overview like a vision from the top of a high mountain.
Such views are more suited to give an idea about which direction to go.
Kuhn saw an in top rational world, that grew ever more rational. Only something made Kuhn decide not to come 'down the mountain', and warn the ignorant people below.
This was tried by Nietzsche in Also Sprach Zarathustra out of 1883/1884 (!!).
Zarathustra in this biblical satire literally came down a peaceful mountain on some island, to find a vain and confused rational Western Europe racing towards a world war
because of thinking in terms of power.
Already mid 20 century with the idea 'paradigm' Kuhn as physicist/philosopher pointed at parallel views, and a to be expected jump in thought. In fact nothing special, after 25 ages the Roman Western Empire/Roman Catholic Empire/United States Empire gets awfully absolute and terribly rigid and ready to break down. Thomas Kuhn redefined the notion 'culture'. He applied the notion 'paradigm' to science, but this idea is has much more potential. Kuhn pointed at a 'crisis' in Western Science caused by rationality, and handed the tool for repair. He didn't use the term 'crisis', but chosing for the name Scientific Revolution inherently supposes such a crisis. In fact Kuhn's notion 'paradigm shift' concerns all of Western Power Circles. So it causes more than only a Scientific Revolution, but a (world wide) Cultural Revolution. Kuhn used the notion 'scientific', but expecting a change in thought from science monasteries like NASA is both a bit arrogant and slightly naive. NASA showed that rational Ethical Law tends to be extremely expensive and far from original (only innovative WITHIN rational designing). It became a common mistake in formal science to see paradigm shifts only as scientific. But you have to judge these concepts by their cultural results. That means in terms of existing ideas like relativity theory or quantum theory they might seem unsignificant, but nevertheless the resulting cultural mood of anger can make "The Lord of the Ring" look like a VERY INNOCENT fairytale. |
| I completely understand the frustration of Nietzsche when writing in 1888: I see all philosophers and the whole of science on their knees before a reality which is the reverse of the struggle for life as Darwin and his school understood it- that is to say, wherever I look, I see those prevailing and surviving, who throw doubt and suspicion upon life and the value of life. - The error of the Darwinian school became a problem to me: how can one be so blind as to make this mistake? |
The French Revolution was performed by 'the poor' but was totally directed by the murderously jealous middle class. This middle class had effectively killed the frontrunners in nobility.
That also meant destroying most of wisdom. To the New Rich the possibility to tranquillize workers with a Rational Dream was a gift from God.
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A 'line' of a total paradigm or culture consists of millions of sub-paradigms. From a distance this line looks like a lightning.
I'll use the following steps:Leadership and Respect
 For 1 thing Kuhn may be blamed, he quite sympathatically but also stubbornly refused to accept
his 'given' place in evolution. By introducing the notion paradigm he purposely or not created a shockwave in science. That way he should have accepted the role as 'saint', but he preferred to be modest 'beggar'. He was right in saying that in most ways he was just a 'normal' guy, but this normal guy had by chance become possible prophet of a new way of seeing 'life'. By refusing this role as the 'new wizard' he slowed down the start of the new magic created by introducing the notion 'paradigm'. Perhaps the revolutionary never existed - but then it was necessary to invent him Alan Musgrave (on Kuhn's denial of the radical views imputed to him) |
Kuhn's book was a serious attempt to unite history of science, philosophy and sociology of science into one sensable, consistent model of scientific development by (unknowingly ?) introducing the concept of constantly renewing sequences of paradigms |
| (1) being accepted interpretators of information, (2) giving emotional satisfaction, (3) generating acceptable predictions |
| During a paradigm shift you feel like you right hand is fighting your left, and your head is punched regularly.
Imagine what changing view on the world was in the absolute period of the life of Galileo Galilei. Since birth you had been told that the earth was flat, and there was no shread of doubt in your mind. Added to that the Pope (almost a god to you) threatens to expell everybody from church who 'thinks round'. And your local priest condemns everybody with only 'wrong' THOUGHTS (the medieval 'thought-police'). To make it worse the punishment could be being burned on the stakes. Even for a few seconds considering that the world was round, caused you to awake sweating at night having a nightmare of children shouting at you 'madman' or 'witch'. Only people with mighty protectors could afford believing that the world was round. The notion 'being flat' is not just some view to you, but it IS your only REALITY. So you were prepared to fight to death for your 'law of life'. At present in the age of space-travel a flat world seems physically impossible, but thas has been quite different. Now try to imagine a 21th century variant. I.e.in the Israel Palestine Conflict both the people of Israel and the Palestines are defending their one and only view on life, the traditions that built their life. To accept a compromise that only in theory threatens to take away their certainties makes that like the sailors of Columbus they will mistakenly imagine to enter hell. That they already are living in some kind of hell is easier to accept. Accepting to leave certain basics in their life, for them is like loosing grip on REALITY. It's fear as HUGE as that of for being burned to death.Hatred is only the result, not the cause.. |
The best known use of the word 'paradigm' is that of Thomas Kuhn, and describes practices in the history of knowledge and intelligence. Unfortunately
Kuhn spoke about 'scientific revolutions', giving rise to the myth that only difficult windows on reality of the Roman Christian ethics are cleaned.| [In fact Kuhn distinguishes normal besides revolutionary science, but until now all scientists that caused a paradigm shift were 'normal scientists'. Otherwise they would already have been in a lunatic asylum. There are even paradigm shifts without a scientist being the cause.] |
A quote of Kuhn: In the absence of a paradigm ... early fact gathering is a far more nearly random activity than the one subsequent scientific development makes familiar.
That confirms my own experience that taking new roads in knowledge (not only science) is a near random process of association. The paradigm shift
serves to make more knowledge available to be linked. Like reaching a new meadow. After that, it's not really important in what sequence 'grazing knowledge' is done. Because
it was the genial trek of the leading horse that brought the herd in a new meadow. That horse took some path but that's not important. 
In his classic Kuhn wrote: The man who embraces a new paradigm at an early stage must often do so in
defiance of the evidence provided by problem-solving. The evolution of a new idea, as Kuhn states, builds
upon what has gone before. But on top of that it also requires a kind of leap that is counter-intuitive. The Lone Genius
who invents it must trust that his brand new knowledge parachute will open. Or have faith that the new paradigm will succeed with the many large problems that
confront it, knowing only that the older paradigm has failed with a few.| Kuhn surely was a genius. He saw a wood of sciences,
instead of a solely rational science stuck in it's own tree. At the he inherently made room for a new World History, with jumps between paradigms. FEROCIOUS resistance in formal Christian Science made understandably finally Thomas Kuhn 'decide' not to jump. His being professor must have been a HUGE handicap. He already had high status, and many VERY angry high ranked protesters were his colleagues and friends. Kuhn 'decided' not to attack 'science' and to see a paradigm as 'scientific'. Because Kuhn didn't jump no demand arose for New Reality Design in the Western World. This world again safely stayed in the paradigm 'Christian Science' without changing the view on 'intelligence'. |
| Kuhn decided to stay on top of the mountain, and his paradigm remained a Kuhnian paradigm. That's why very few people call him an 'intellectual coward'.
Understandable but not realizing that though smart Kuhn was just a 'common guy'. He was not made of the stuff of hero's like Nietzsche and Joan of Arc and equipped with very strong ethical intuition.
Coming down the mountain with new commandments) takes 'being pushed' by very strong and original intuitions about Ethics.
The scientist Thomas Kuhn was accepted, but also his ethical intuition wasn't that strong. That way Kuhn revolutionary shocked the paradigm Christian Science from INSIDE, avoiding an explosion. Kuhnian Paradigm Shifts now might be seen as Maintenance Paradigm Shifts (Shock Therapy). Thomas Kuhn, happy being a famous professor had no intention at all to end the 'christian science' that made him famous |
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Example of failing to see the 'invisible' point, caused by being in another paradigm
An eye opening very recent example showing that views from a different paradigm can be utterly confusing for
members of the settled scientific community. I.e. a 'formal science'.
An article of me with an unusual but consistent view was refused within a day by a major formal scientific journal. Motivation:- You provide no references (pointing at "Discovery Channel" knowledge) - Well that's quite false (regarding an example, but giving no serious motivation) - The opposite happens (the same example, denying a statement I didn't make) - Therefore, [...] is found in [..] (same example, again denying something I clearly didn't say) And about the main thesis only: - I'm not sure about your assumption of [..] (but presuming that it MUST BE wrong) It makes one think that I presume a world being square. It definitely shows that most traditional scientists are very polite people. And that in this case this person is obviously sincerely 'shocked', and counter attacking as if in automatic mode. My explanatory common sense example is taken as to be read only in 'rational' way. That shows that generally formal scientists outside 'the world of freeware' are totally prisoned in existing accepted concepts. To 'prove' that something is wrong they just refer to 'rational science' basics, and they refuse to see a not 'rational' view as science. My beautiful common sense flower, 'rationally' appears invisible. 
It can be an counterintuitive example, that for them proves that the whole main thesis is wrong.
In this case the thesis was interpreted in a way, that using an essentially different view obviously wasn't meant. This example shows that even within the Western culture exist huge PARTIALLY totally parallel paradigms ('incommensurability'). Innovative scientists 'thinking the Future' should 'chew' on the message shown under this link: earthquake-like advertising. Western Culture could be seen as a bush, partly with beautiful flowers and partly only branches. The two parts are similar in major part, but in tiny part are completely different. See this bush as Western Culture: much more than 90 percent mainly uses common sense, the small rest mainly rational thought. Simplifying one could say: the big flower part uses mainly common sense, the tiny 'dead' part visited university, studied 'human science' (including management sciences) and learned to think rational.
And more rightfully than he wishes a criticist of Kuhn's paradigms observes: And just as we no longer expect experimental scientists to know much about metaphysics, so, too, we would come not to expect philosophers and sociologists of science to know much about science. That's juggling with words, I only state that 'physics' is local truth. Formal scientists became highpriests of Christian Science, but already Albert Einstein observed that a little imaginative intelligence' is to be preferred over HUGE knowledge (sorry). Often accepting a new Ethical Law Paradigm takes dying out of temporary leaders. |
| A perfect example is the culture clash in The 2005 War in Iraq. A quite frontal collision
of a US culture based on believing in 'spirit' (left brain virtual reality), and the
'unity of body and mind' as proven and ONLY way of sensing reality outside Western countries. Abstract spirit thinkers with ALL means fighting common sense people trusting moods. |
| Consider 'normal' science as the digging of a hole. Ever faster and using increasingly advanced tools.
The diggers hope to find truth on the bottom. Off course when searching this way for truth one only sees the wall of the hole (tunnel view, seeing some absolute truth). One part of a truth in the past was: 'the world is flat'. Suddenly an Italian scientist named Galileo came along, looked down in the deep structure and yelled at all his might: "Nice tools, but better shut the hole. You're digging in the wrong place, because all new evidence points to the world being round". And then the digging crew climbed out, and with the same speed started working again in the new place indicated by this Galileo. |
Kuhn's theory stays an item of heated discussion among philosophers, a temporary victory for ratio. The result was only a
Popper-Kuhn controverse. Unnecessary because Kuhn only built along on Popper. Kuhn also believes in a steady
growth of scientific knowledge (Popper's favorite subject was 'the continuity of science'). Only Kuhn distinguishes
nonrevolutionary and revolutionary science. His paradigms happen in the revolutionary branch.| It was the first serious attempt towards a descriptive approach of science instead of a normative one. |
| 1 example: When I, The One, meditated about a G8 of pathway-countries my first ignorant try was: China, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, Australia, South-Africa, Ethiopia, Iran and India As Friedrich Nietzsche by intuition felt: something is totally out of balance. US: a predictive bunch of 'protestant' states. EU: a bunch of Catholic states dominated by Protestants. Russia: VERY different countries dominated by 'Moskou'. That makes 3 bunches that don't belong in a G8. The Lesson: Federations are predictive bunches, you could as well make a G6 of 'lumps of land' |
El Niña: Social Revolution
Thinking about it to me the theory of Thomas Kuhn about paradigm shifts seemed not completely satisfying.
It centers about persons who start such a revolution in thinking. Sure such initiators are necessary, without a lighter you can't smoke. But my feeling is that culture was already 'hot'. The fire was burning only not yet in the open.
Compare it to the weather phenonomen El Niño. Just like a warm undercurrent in the world oceans there are undercurrents in the social ocean 'society'.
And sometimes the dominant uppercurrent is moving in a totally different direction than its main undercurrent.
Then conditions are set for what I call a social El Niña.
Innocent El Niña's appear almost every year, but devastating Reality Redesigns occur in cycles of magnitude 1000 years. The dominant uppercurrent
'refuses' to go away, and social pressure is mounting. What is needed is some prophet who strikes a weak spot in the uppercurrent.
That is enough for the EXTREMELY powerful undercurrent to erupt and it completely changes social circumstances. 
1. absolute or prescriptive, as found in Roman Christian Church and Mohammedan Islam. Till now the dominant way in formal Western science.| Life can be seen as producing a endless stream of myths. The most attractive sense experiences get accepted, WHATEVER the content. |
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Evolution had many Reality Redesigns. Some resulting in all earth life changing direction. Others resulting in two strands of life.
First all life might have been transsexual, chosing one queen as fe-male to ensure offspring. Transexual splitting in male and fe-male (both strands survived and became part of DNA). One fertile fe-male in a male 'colony' changing in many fertile fe-males (DNA) 'Leadership' splitting in fe-male leadership and male-leadership. (DNA) ... ... The Egyptian paradigm was still quite 'natural', and fe-males might have had a 'position' quite close to men. Since Jesus there have hundreds of Kuhnian Paradigm Shifts (partial and still only in common sense) in the Western Paradigm. I'll mention one especially, since it split the World in 'virtual' (Europe) and 'natural' (much bigger rest): 451 AC Aristotle's Ethics accepted by Catholic Church on Council of Chalcedon. European people start believing in IMMATERIAL 'gods' (like claiming: UFO's exist). |
| Round 1550 an important Kuhnian Paradigm Shift: Enlightenment idea continuous time replaces common sense idea discrete time. |
Getting away from overdone rational thinking means returning 0to the common sense values respect and leadership. These values are the attraction of Islam and especially Buddhism ('Mohammedanism' is an Islamic sect).
Islam preserved authority, but like Western Christianity has many absolute traits (in all respect).Leadership is standing out from the crowd, and more than running like a cheerleader in front of it (fascism).| Natural leaders realize that between them and their opponents are only points of VIEW.
Qualifying other than own view as 'bad', is only LABELLING it with an abstract value. Amplifying such abstract differences into cultural frenzy is like deliberate causing a fire, and is destructive behavior. Bad people as a group don't exist. All parents aim at giving their children the best future. |
| Thomas Kuhn quote about crisis: Crisis alone is not enough. There must also be a basis, though it need be neither rational nor ultimately correct. |
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A base: One hamburger-cow is worse than 3 Hummers (military 4-wheel-drives) when looking at
Global Warming. Stop the egoist eating and chasing of fellow beings. Kuhn: new paradigms just replace old ones because young people grow up in the newly accepted paradigm. The One: That's no excuse to do nothing. Change takes DECISIONS: we 'the people united' don't accept egoism (=individualism without counterbalance collectivism). |
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