Biological effects of fibers: Stanton's hypothesis revisited

a paradigm shift. Kuhn argues that scientists in any field and in any time possess a set of shared beliefs about the world, and for that time the set constitutes the dominant paradigm. What he terms "normal science" proceeds nicely under this set of shared beliefs. Experiments are carried out strictly within the boundaries of those beliefs and small steps toward progress are made. An old but excellent example is the Ptolemaic view of the universe (which held until the sixteenth century) that the earth was at the center of the universe, and the moon, sun, planets, and stars were embedded in concentric spheres around it. Elaborate mathematical formulas and models were developed that would accurately predict astronomical events based on the Ptolemaic paradigm. Not until Copernicus and Kepler found that the formula worked more easily when the sun replaced the earth as the center of it all did an instance of paradigm shift begin. After a paradigm shift begins, progress is fast though fraught with tension. People get angry. New discoveries pour in to support the new belief system (e.g., those of Kepler and Galileo), and scientific revolution occurs. Other familiar examples ofparadigm shift and ensuing revolution in science include the shift to relativity in physics, and to plate tectonics in geology. The important point in each instance is that the old 'rationality' is eventually replaced with a new, different, and more useful one. We are urging something of this kind in business'