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[German Version] (Jul 18, 1922, Cincinnati, OH – Jun 7, 1996, Cambridge, MA) was an American historian of science and philosophy, professor at University of California/Berkeley (1958–1964), at Princeton University (1964–1979), and at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (1979–1996). In his influential book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962), Kuhn criticizes the view of science as rational and cumulative. Kuhn makes a distinction between normal and revolutionary science. Normal science is characterized by a dominating parad…

[German Version] I. Natural Sciences – II. Philosophy of Religion I. Natural Sciences A model (from Lat. modulus, “measure,” “standard”) is commonly understood to represent something other than itself. An analogy is expected between the model and that which it models. It is often assumed that a model emphasizes certain important features of that which it represents. This general conception is realized in various ways within the natural sciences. “Model” frequently designates two or three-dimensional illustrati…

[German Version] I. Natural Sciences – II. Philosophy – III. Fundamental Theology – IV. Ethics I. Natural Sciences In the natural sciences, the term paradigm (from Gk παράδειγμα/ parádeigma, “pattern, model”) is commonly used to refer to exemplary models for scientific work. A particular way of setting up an experiment or a simulation, or a strategy for giving evidence for a conclusion, can be described as a paradigm. On a more general level, influential basic theories or scientific works introducing such theories (e.g. Jo…

[English Version] I. In den Naturwissenschaften In den Naturwiss. wird der Begriff »P.« (griech. παρα´δειγμα/para´deigma, »Muster, Modell«) i. allg. in bezug auf exemplarische Modelle für die wiss. Arbeit verwandt. Eine spezielle Art der Durchführung eines Experiments, einer Simulation oder einer Strategie zur Gewinnung von Erkenntnissen und Schlußfolgerungen kann als P. bez. werden. Auf einer allgemeineren Ebene werden einflußreiche grundlegende Theorien bzw. wiss. Arbeiten, die solche Theorien veröff. (z.B…