ABSTRACT

Theories are constructed to explain what we see or think we see. Since the publication of Kuhn’s Structure of ScientificRevolutions in 1962, however, it has been generally appreciated that theories may also determine what we think we see because people interpret the world they observe in terms of the theories and models they carry in their heads. That is, observations are automatically classified according to the convenient categories provided by accepted theories. In the extreme, aspects of reality that do not neatly fit within the structures of existing theories may be overlooked entirely.