A Study Of The Prevalence Of The "Paradigm"

Since the publication of "The Structure of Scientific Revolution" in1962, the word "paradigm" has become prevalent with a speed and scope much greater than Kuhn expected. Later on, many researchers from other disciplines applied this word "paradigm", which was come from Kuhn of science philosophy, in multi-disciplinary researches. As a result, when we realized the prevalence of "paradigm", we raised the following questions:are there any inevitable reasons why the "paradigm" could spread out widely? In the multi-disciplinary application, did some variation and or evolution of the meaning and usage of the "paradigm" take place? If the answer is yes, what is the effect of such changes on the development of the philosophy of science and other disciplines? And how can we evaluate and deal with such effect? This paper intends to answer the above questions.In this paper, the author first reviewed the theory of Kuhn’s Paradigm, investigated the general overview and some individual cases of the "paradigm" application, intended to reveal the evolution of the meaning and usage of the "paradigm", and pointed out the rule of the "paradigm" application. The rule is: before criticize or evolve the’paradigm’, an academician must have a thorough understanding and acceptance first.Secondly, by a brief analysis combining with Communication Theory, the author found out some inevitable reasons for the spreading of the "paradigm", including the ambiguity, the entirety, the incommensurability. Also, these reasons became possible propagation features that cause the prevalence of "paradigm".Finally, after analyzing and evaluating both of the positive and negative effect of the prevalence of "paradigm", the author, from the view of further academic research, gives three ideas to cope with the effect:setting a rule of the application of the "paradigm", adjusting and transforming the "paradigm" in the philosophy of science, and creating a new notion to supersede the "paradigm".