THE CONCEPT OF PARADIGM IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES: COUNTERPOINT TO THOMAS KUHN

• Autor(a) principal: Romero Marques, Heitor
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Outros Autores: Campos Maciel, Josemar, Jacob, Raphael Sérgio Rios Chaia, Rios Chaia Jacob, Jacyara
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista Direito UFMS
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.ufms.br/index.php/revdir/article/view/7630

Thomas Kuhn, in his book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, made a thorough study of the idea of paradigms, and how they serve as theoretical references for the construction of knowledge, presenting answers to inquiries often posed by the science. Such paradigms, according to the author, would be subjected to changes at certain moments, as new questions would arise with the development of science itself; such "breaks" are what Kuhn calls scientific revolution. In his work, however, the author fundamentally relies on the natural and exact sciences, rarely addressing the social and human sciences, since, according to Thomas Kuhn, these, for its unstable nature, would not be able to develop arrays of knowledge through paradigms capable of answering all questions. It draws to attention, however, that,  with due caution, it is indeed possible to establish the existence of social paradigms, being necessary to observe them from a broader, multidisciplinary approach in order that the answers provided by them can meet the needs of scientists and researchers.