Application of the concept of paradigm in agriculture

Mészáros, Sándor

Keywords: paradigm, paradigm change, T.S. Kuhn farming systems, agricultural policies

The concept of paradigm in a wider sense (wider than the earlier linguistic version) was introduced by Thomas Samuel Kuhn, an American physicist and science historian, in his book on “The structure of scientific revolution” published in c.1962. This book is thought to be one of the most controversial works of the 20th Century and widely held as the best known treatise of scientific philosophy even outside his field of expertise. There was much debate especially in his own field of expertise (science history, scientific philosophy) in the three decades until his death (1996). In the past decade and a half the concept of paradigm or paradigm change has been accepted and applied in various sciences. In agricultural policy four paradigms can be differentiated. In scientific disciplines paradigms encourage systematisation, comparison and evaluation, making economic policy, and thus agricultural policy, increasing more comprehensible, so that changes can be traced, forecast, aiding the formation of hypotheses.

Full article