Veronika Lipphardt - Paradigm Shifts - The View from Science Studies

FRIAS Lunch Lecture from 21 July 2016 with Prof. Dr. Veronika Lipphardt from the University of Freiburg

Is the concept of paradigm shifts a useful tool for understanding historical changes in various disciplines? In this concluding lecture, we will look at the outcome of the series through the lens of History of Science and Science Studies. After briefly discussing Kuhn’s concept, how it has been taken up in these two fields, and how Kuhn responded, we will examine various other theoretical approaches for conceiving changes in the sciences and humanities. I assume that in most of the lectures of this series, speakers will find the recent history and the current situation of their discipline too complex for being able to state a clear-cut paradigm shift. If this is the case, we can discuss whether that’s the case because one needs to have a larger temporal distance to diagnose a paradigm shift, or whether the condition of science/"Wissenschaft" has changed so dramatically that paradigm shifts do not occur (in the way Kuhn has proposed).

More information on the FRIAS Lunch Lectures 2015/16: https://www.frias.uni-freiburg.de/de/mediathek/lunch-lectures/videomitschnitte-der-lunch-lectures