A paradigm is an overarching assumption undergirding a general worldview. In the scientific community, this means the baseline beliefs about physics, biology, and other disciplines that experts take for granted as true. Scientists measure their experiments and observations in relation to these beliefs.
A paradigm shift—or paradigm change—happens when scientific activity and experimentation begins to contradict premises that experts previously considered unshakable. As a result, a new and different paradigm replaces the dominant paradigm of its day. 

Thomas Kuhn, a twentieth-century physicist and philosopher of science, coined the phrase “paradigm shift” and extrapolated upon it in his book, *The Structure of Scientific Revolutions*. Professionals in many different fields applied Thomas Kuhn’s idea of fundamental change in the sciences to their own disciplines shortly thereafter. 

In the present-day, paradigm shifts refer just as easily to surprising political outcomes or new artistic movements as they do to the arrival of a new baseline assumption and methodology in chemistry or astronomy. Still, the definition of paradigm shift remains the same no matter which field it crops up in: a radical change from previous prevailing attitudes that forms the basis of a new orthodoxy.
Paradigm shifts happen by trickles of questioning and then in a flood of changes. Thomas Kuhn believed scientific research stays within a certain subset of beliefs (a scientific paradigm) most of the time. Scientists rely on these broad assumptions about the world and their field of study to do their work. Kuhn called this “normal science.” But as time progresses, scientists occasionally discover new data that presents <a href='https://masterclass.com/articles/what-is-a-paradox-in-writing-learn-about-the-differences-between-literary-paradox-and-logical-paradox-with-examples' target='_blank' class='mc-text--link' data-mc-segment-trigger='true' data-mc-segment-event-type='Article Page Click' data-event-obj='{"textTag":"p","href":"https://masterclass.com/articles/what-is-a-paradox-in-writing-learn-about-the-differences-between-literary-paradox-and-logical-paradox-with-examples","linkCopy":"paradoxes","category":"automated-link"}' automatic='true'>paradoxes</a> or directly contradicts this dominant paradigm. These contradictions build and build until theoreticians arrive to make sense of them by proposing entirely new assumptions and beliefs, sweeping away the previous paradigm and replacing it with a new one.
Paradigm shifts can turn people’s worldviews upside down. Here are just five areas of thought in which society had to reevaluate prior scientific beliefs:

1. __CO2 emissions__: From the Industrial Revolution through the first half or so of the twentieth century, emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere did not register as a particularly pressing concern for the scientific community. But eventually, climatologists began to notice Earth’s environmental and climatic conditions changing in a negative direction. As they studied greenhouse gases, global warming, human industrial behavior, and other relevant data, it became apparent that the CO2 humans released into the atmosphere was a direct cause of this climate change. As such, a paradigm shift occurred.
2. __Evolution__: Within the context of the nineteenth century, Charles Darwin’s new theory of natural selection shocked traditionalists. It allowed people to question their beliefs about the origins of the universe, humankind, and all other species. This important change in biological science led to revolutions in other disciplines, too—for instance, without this paradigm shift, there is no field of evolutionary psychology either.
3. __Germs__: Before the discovery of germs, most pre-modern scientists believed pandemics, epidemics, and even common ailments came from miasma (a bad air or mist). Certain scientists proposed something close to a germ [theory](https://www.masterclass.com/articles/theory-vs-hypothesis-basics-of-the-scientific-method) to counter this widespread belief in miasma throughout the ages, but it wasn’t until the nineteenth century that the paradigm shift occurred. Once adopted, it led to much more effective treatments and containment of disease.
4. __Orbit of the sun__: One old paradigm held that the sun orbited the earth before the discoveries of Nicolaus Copernicus in the sixteenth century. Copernicus presented a new paradigm—the heliocentric model—in which he displayed how the opposite was true. This change revamped humankind’s understanding of the heavens and set off other significant changes throughout the Scientific Revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
5. __Quantum mechanics__: While physicist Albert Einstein deserves attribution for revolutionizing the scientific discipline of physics, his own contributions underwent a paradigm shift of their own in the latter half of the twentieth century. Quantum mechanics questioned and began to answer issues within Einstein’s theories. Research into the subject—involving black holes, the evasive nature of waves and particles, and more—keeps adding paradoxical new considerations to our understanding of the universe.
6. __Relativity__: The work of Isaac Newton upheld the entire structure of physics until Albert Einstein arrived on the scene. As it would happen, 1905 proved to be a bold new year in the history of science, as Einstein’s paper on special relativity began to resolve paradoxes implicit in Newtonian physics. Just a decade later, Einstein contributed another scientific theory—general relativity—that led to another major scientific change in our understanding of the physical universe.
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The notion of a paradigm shift first originated in the philosophy of science. Since then, this phrase—meaning a revolutionary and dramatic change in assumptions—spread to social sciences and popular culture as a buzzword. Learn more about what makes for a paradigm shift.

The notion of a paradigm shift first originated in the philosophy of science. Since then, this phrase—meaning a revolutionary and dramatic change in assumptions—spread to social sciences and popular culture as a buzzword. Learn more about what makes for a paradigm shift.

Paradigm Shift Definition: 6 Examples of Paradigm Shifts

A paradigm is an overarching assumption undergirding a general worldview. In the scientific community, this means the baseline beliefs about physics, biology, and other disciplines that experts take for granted as true. Scientists measure their experiments and observations in relation to these beliefs.

What Is a Paradigm?

A paradigm shift—or paradigm change—happens when scientific activity and experimentation begins to contradict premises that experts previously considered unshakable. As a result, a new and different paradigm replaces the dominant paradigm of its day. Thomas Kuhn, a twentieth-century physicist and philosopher of science, coined the phrase “paradigm shift” and extrapolated upon it in his book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Professionals in many different fields applied Thomas Kuhn’s idea of fundamental change in the sciences to their own disciplines shortly thereafter. In the present-day, paradigm shifts refer just as easily to surprising political outcomes or new artistic movements as they do to the arrival of a new baseline assumption and methodology in chemistry or astronomy. Still, the definition of paradigm shift remains the same no matter which field it crops up in: a radical change from previous prevailing attitudes that forms the basis of a new orthodoxy.

What Is a Paradigm Shift?

Paradigm shifts happen by trickles of questioning and then in a flood of changes. Thomas Kuhn believed scientific research stays within a certain subset of beliefs (a scientific paradigm) most of the time. Scientists rely on these broad assumptions about the world and their field of study to do their work. Kuhn called this “normal science.” But as time progresses, scientists occasionally discover new data that presents <a href='https://masterclass.com/articles/what-is-a-paradox-in-writing-learn-about-the-differences-between-literary-paradox-and-logical-paradox-with-examples' target='_blank' class='mc-text--link' data-mc-segment-trigger='true' data-mc-segment-event-type='Article Page Click' data-event-obj='{"textTag":"p","href":"https://masterclass.com/articles/what-is-a-paradox-in-writing-learn-about-the-differences-between-literary-paradox-and-logical-paradox-with-examples","linkCopy":"paradoxes","category":"automated-link"}' automatic='true'>paradoxes</a> or directly contradicts this dominant paradigm. These contradictions build and build until theoreticians arrive to make sense of them by proposing entirely new assumptions and beliefs, sweeping away the previous paradigm and replacing it with a new one.

How a Paradigm Shift Occurs

Paradigm shifts can turn people’s worldviews upside down. Here are just five areas of thought in which society had to reevaluate prior scientific beliefs:<ol class="mc-m-4"><li class="mc-my-4"> 1. CO2 emissions: From the Industrial Revolution through the first half or so of the twentieth century, emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere did not register as a particularly pressing concern for the scientific community. But eventually, climatologists began to notice Earth’s environmental and climatic conditions changing in a negative direction. As they studied greenhouse gases, global warming, human industrial behavior, and other relevant data, it became apparent that the CO2 humans released into the atmosphere was a direct cause of this climate change. As such, a paradigm shift occurred. </li><li class="mc-my-4"> 2. Evolution: Within the context of the nineteenth century, Charles Darwin’s new theory of natural selection shocked traditionalists. It allowed people to question their beliefs about the origins of the universe, humankind, and all other species. This important change in biological science led to revolutions in other disciplines, too—for instance, without this paradigm shift, there is no field of evolutionary psychology either. </li><li class="mc-my-4"> 3. Germs: Before the discovery of germs, most pre-modern scientists believed pandemics, epidemics, and even common ailments came from miasma (a bad air or mist). Certain scientists proposed something close to a germ <a href='https://www.masterclass.com/articles/theory-vs-hypothesis-basics-of-the-scientific-method' target='_self' class='mc-text--link' data-mc-segment-trigger='true' data-mc-segment-event-type='Article Page Click' data-event-obj='{"textTag":"p","href":"https://www.masterclass.com/articles/theory-vs-hypothesis-basics-of-the-scientific-method","linkCopy":"theory","category":null}'>theory</a> to counter this widespread belief in miasma throughout the ages, but it wasn’t until the nineteenth century that the paradigm shift occurred. Once adopted, it led to much more effective treatments and containment of disease. </li><li class="mc-my-4"> 4. Orbit of the sun: One old paradigm held that the sun orbited the earth before the discoveries of Nicolaus Copernicus in the sixteenth century. Copernicus presented a new paradigm—the heliocentric model—in which he displayed how the opposite was true. This change revamped humankind’s understanding of the heavens and set off other significant changes throughout the Scientific Revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. </li><li class="mc-my-4"> 5. Quantum mechanics: While physicist Albert Einstein deserves attribution for revolutionizing the scientific discipline of physics, his own contributions underwent a paradigm shift of their own in the latter half of the twentieth century. Quantum mechanics questioned and began to answer issues within Einstein’s theories. Research into the subject—involving black holes, the evasive nature of waves and particles, and more—keeps adding paradoxical new considerations to our understanding of the universe. </li><li class="mc-my-4"> 6. Relativity: The work of Isaac Newton upheld the entire structure of physics until Albert Einstein arrived on the scene. As it would happen, 1905 proved to be a bold new year in the history of science, as Einstein’s paper on special relativity began to resolve paradoxes implicit in Newtonian physics. Just a decade later, Einstein contributed another scientific theory—general relativity—that led to another major scientific change in our understanding of the physical universe. </li></ol>

6 Examples of Paradigm Shifts

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The notion of a paradigm shift first originated in the philosophy of science. Since then, this phrase—meaning a revolutionary and dramatic change in assumptions—spread to social sciences and popular culture as a buzzword. Learn more about what makes for a paradigm shift.

The notion of a paradigm shift first originated in the philosophy of science. Since then, this phrase—meaning a revolutionary and dramatic change in assumptions—spread to social sciences and popular culture as a buzzword. Learn more about what makes for a paradigm shift.
