Paradigms in Political Science

Mattei Dogan

A paradigm is a constellation of scientific theories, values, and methods shared by the members of the scientific community, forging a disciplinary matrix and excluding any other theory. The word is of Greek origin and emerged in philosophical literature in the 15th century. The concept of a paradigm was formulated by Thomas Kuhn in his book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962). Today, this concept is accepted in the history of natural sciences and in the sociology of science. It is also frequently used in political science as in all social sciences in spite of the fact that Kuhn explained in the preface of his book that its use is not justified in the social sciences. In 1965, three years after the publication of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions , the American Political Science Association (APSA) president, David Truman, thought that the paradigmatic explanation of scientific progress was not applicable ...

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