Kuhn, Thomas

"The techniques of normal science are not well-suited to the discovery of novelty."

"Scientists trained in different paradigms see the world differently; it is not merely that they interpret the same data differently."

"The shift from one paradigm to another is not cumulative but revolutionary."

"What is anomalous is not determined by nature but by the paradigm with which we approach nature."

"The successful scientist is one who can work productively within an existing paradigm while remaining alert to its limitations."

"A community of scientists can accept a paradigm that, by its own early standards, would have appeared entirely unacceptable."

"The transition from one paradigm to another cannot be made a step at a time, forced by logic and neutral experience."

"Facts are not simply discovered; they are constructed within frameworks of understanding."

"The very incompleteness of a theory need not deter its continued application and development."

"History presents the enterprise of science as having arrived by stages at the vantage point from which twentieth-century science appears inevitable."

"Scientific communities adopt the world-views and techniques that best enable puzzle-solving in their current context."

"The crisis stage in science is when old theories fail but no new consensus has yet emerged."

"What matters most in science is not having the right answers but asking the right questions."

"A paradigm gains its status because it is more successful than its competitors in solving problems the community of practitioners has come to recognize as acute."

"The individual scientist who discovers an anomaly may not immediately recognize its significance."

"Science advances not merely through accumulation but through fundamental re-conceptions of old data."

"The scientist during periods of revolution must adopt a different stance toward his discipline than he does during periods of normal science."

"A paradigm is what members of a scientific community share; it is the foundation for their professional communication and practice."

"The transition between paradigms cannot be completed by logic and experiment alone; there is an element of choice."

"Prior to a revolution, scientists often describe nature as it appears to them within their current paradigm—not as nature itself is."

"Science progresses through the replacement of one comprehensive world-view with another rather than through the mere addition of facts."

"The puzzles that scientists solve during normal science are not selected randomly but are determined by the reigning paradigm."

"An accepted theory is not overturned simply because an anomaly appears; the commitment to the existing framework is too strong."

"The language of science is not a neutral medium; it shapes what scientists can see and how they think."

"What the scientist sees depends upon both his training and his current paradigm."

"Revolutionary science occurs when the problems that emerge cannot be solved by normal scientific means."

"A new paradigm often seems irrational or absurd when judged by the standards of the old paradigm."

"Scientific progress is neither linear nor inevitable; it depends on contingent historical factors."

"The acceptance of a new paradigm is often a matter of generational replacement rather than rational conversion."

"A paradigm-shift involves seeing old data in a fundamentally new way, as if the scientist had put on new spectacles."