ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to refine an ontological theory of society and culture from the dispersed theories of numerous scientists and philosophers from many diverse positions. It reviews of what Thomas S. Kuhn called paradigms and how paradigm shifts have influenced the development of scientific theory. In describing the type of shift in scientific tradition and thought, Kuhn coined the term 'paradigm'. He wrote, 'Some accepted examples of actual scientific practice – examples which include law, theory, application, and instrumentation together – provide models from which spring particular coherent traditions of scientific research'. He argued that while some scientific breakthroughs such as Copernicus's were adopted based on their predictive and problem-solving abilities, others have gained acceptance through the elegance of the solution, the ability to guide future research and 'faith that the new paradigm will succeed with many large problems that confront it, knowing only that the older paradigm has failed with a few'.
