What is a Paradigm Shift? Timothy C. Weiskel 11 September 2013 - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Environmental Ethics and Land Management http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre120 What is a Paradigm Shift? Timothy C. Weiskel 11 September 2013 Class Discussion Session Week 2 Harvard Extension School Fall Semester 2013 A paradigm shift

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Environmental Ethics and Land Management

http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre120

Timothy C. Weiskel

Harvard Extension School Fall Semester 2013

11 September 2013 Class Discussion Session – Week 2

What is a Paradigm Shift?

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A paradigm shift is a change in outlook or worldview. It is, effectively, a total change in perspective. In any field of science a paradigm shift represents a radical transformation of the framework within which individual empirical observations and broader theoretical assertions are interpreted and understood.

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Three Examples of Paradigm Shift

1. Galileo and the shift from a Terracentric to a

Heliocentric World.

2. Plate Tectonics and the move from

“Acts of God” to Earth System Dynamics.

3. From the Growth Paradigm to the

Sustainability Paradigm in World Agriculture – Beyond the “Green” Revolution.

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The Insight of Thomas Kuhn…

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This is the 50th anniversary of the publication of Thomas Kuhn’s important work.… Its insights are crucial for understanding the history

f modern science…

Celebrations are planned for 2012.

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Celestial Centricity = Paradigm Shift & Galileo’s “Blasphemy”

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Galileo and the shift from a Terracentric to a Heliocentric World.

Case 1

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Europeans and Chinese had long mapped the striking “evidence” of the morphological relatedness of continents.

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From “Solid Earth” to the Plate Tectonic Theory = Paradigm Shift

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Case 2

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First formulations that tried to suggest that continents were

riginally linked were

based on the concept of “continental drift.”

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Alfred Wegener with his theory of “continental drift” and the subsequent development of “Plate Tectonics” allowed humans to move from observing “Acts of God” to exam instead “earth system dynamics.”

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Even after plate tectonics is firmly established the evidence for each manifestation of an earth anomoly involves a professional struggle.

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From the Growth Paradigm to the Sustainability Paradigm

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Case 3

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http://www.climate-talks.net/2008- ENVRE130/Audio/20090913-NPR-Borlaug-dies.htm

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BBC, Newshour, 13 September 2009

http://www.climate-talks.net/2008- ENVRE130/Audio/20090913-BBC- Borlaug-Newshour-obit.mp3

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http://www.climate-talks.net/2008-ENVRE130/Video/20090913-YouTube- Borlaug-Promoter.htm

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http://ecojustice.net/2006-ENVRE120/Video/20050330-BBC-Millenium- Ecosystem-Study-Index-l.htm

No amount of genetic engineering will address the ethical problem of limit posed by the most recent scientific studies.

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But our basic problem is that… we’ve ‘forgotten’ (and it may be that many of our leaders never knew) the basic ecological insight about

ur collective “niche” as a species in the global

ecosystem.

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Never before….and never again.

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Culturally, we need to move from sectoral thinking to systems thinking. We need to keep clearly in mind more than just one problem and specifically how different problems amplify and interact with each other. Further, we need to understand that growth is inherently destabilizing.

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Part 2 Part 3

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Galileo’s “Blasphemy”

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Galileo and the shift from a Terracentric to a Heliocentric World.

Case 1

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The Plate Tectonic Paradigm Shift

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Case 2

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From the Growth Paradigm to the Sustainability Paradigm

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Case 3

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1. Galileo and the shift from a Terracentric to a Heliocentric World – Cosmic science. 2. Plate Tectonics and the shift from “Acts of God” to Earth System Science. 3. The shift from the Growth Paradigm to the Sustainability Paradigm: Beyond the “Green” Revolution in Global Agriculture.

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Three Examples of Paradigm Shift

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1. Galileo and the shift from a Terracentric to a Heliocentric World – Cosmic science. [Now universally accepted.] 2. Plate Tectonics and the shift from “Acts of God” to Earth System Science. [Publicly accepted . Still contested in pre-scientific circles…] 3. The shift from the Growth Paradigm to the Sustainability Paradigm: Beyond the “Green” Revolution in Global

Agriculture. [ Widely accepted in scientific circles; still

contested by engineers, economists and politicians who have a strong stake in perpetuating the “Green Revolution” myths.].

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Three Examples of Paradigm Shift

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What paradigm shifts would be required to absorb this information?

9/11: Explosive Evidence – Psychologists Speak Out

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Discussion Blog topic: Why are “Paradigm Shifts” not easy or automatic…?