Neither dead nor healthy:

On the paradigmatic evolutions of art and science

Abstract

In 1962, Thomas Kuhn published The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. In it, Kuhn described the development of scientific knowledge not as a linear increase in understanding, but as a series of periodic revolutions which overturned the old scientific order i.e. “paradigm shifts”. Ten years later, Eldredge and Gould introduced the concept of Punctuated Equilibria, whereby evolutionary change remains largely in a state of stasis and when significant change occurs it is generally restricted to rare and geologically rapid events of branching speciation. This suggests the existence of some intrinsic systemic property which imposes stagnation upon itself. Turning our eye towards the field of Physics, we know there is one such natural law: that of entropy. Entropy is  chaos — uncertainty. Thus, it seems that epistemological progress is only made possible by abrupt shifts in perception. These are, however, only achievable by those who firmly grasp the state of the art. Tradition and revolution are, therefore, intrinsically linked. Kuhn emphasized the importance of tradition-bound research, of commitment to paradigms, of the restricted vision and rigidity of normal science as a prerequisite to novelty and revolutionary change. Similarly, both Stanley Cavell and Clement Greenberg highlighted the mastery of tradition as a prerequisite of radical change. Kuhn argued that only against an ingrained background of normalcy can one detect an anomaly. For Cavell it becomes a matter of relevance, and for Greenberg one of interest. Either way, it is imperative that one understand the status quo if one hopes to affect it. In fact, returning to our natural laws, it is a fundamental consequence of the fundamental laws of physics that erasing information increases the entropy of the surrounding environment. Hence, it is not when we gain information that we must pay a price; it is when we attempt to forget it. After all, before there could be postmodernism, there had to be a modernism for it to rebel against.