A paradigm is an already established theory. A theory is defined as a statement that presumes to account for all the known facts. The "flat earth" paradigm existed until there were more facts, such as sailors do not really fall off at the edge of the earth. The "geocentric" paradigm got Galileo into trouble with the Inquisition. I heard the it wasn't until around 1850 that the Holy Church finally admitted that the Earth revolves around the Sun. So now we are guided by the present "heliocentric" paradigm.
I am interested in the concept of progress. Evolution is usually depicted as a straight line progression of apes to modern man. Is a paradigm like a metaphor? a comparison? It is a modeling of a process or concept. The depiction of ape to man is an over-simplification of a more complicated process, and is prejudicial against a more complete and accurate understanding of evolution. The depiction sets up a paradigm that has become the dogma of the opposition and must be superseded by a newer paradigm.
We know it looks more like a tree, with branches that end in extinction. The straight line doesn't fit. Which branch becomes a main stem? I can train the branch of a grape vine to become a main stem by my selection of one over the other. It's possible that the ogres and giants of fairy tales may have come from the overlapping of Neanderthals with modern hominids, one unsuccessful form being mythologized by a more successful survivor.
Progress comes in a roundabout way. It is not straight line. There are too many deviations from any straight line to negate the straight-line model, deviations deriving from complexity. When the U.S. had a frontier to conquer, I can see the idea of a straight line to the other side far away dominating the Zeitgeist. The straight-line view is the most dynamic model of progress. It would appeal to some teleologists, who see a straight line to final ends. That is the way athletes think of their drive to the prize. The they must think circular to do it all over again the next season.
It is not circular. The book of Ecclesiastes taught that there is nothing new under the sun, a circular rotation of events of life. Some find it descriptive of their view of life. History repeats itself. That is the the most static view.
Combine the static circle with the straight line, and that yields a circle that moves forward, the spiral. Some repetition and some movement forward in time and space. The Earth orbiting the Sun as it rotates. Is the Sun fixed in space, or does it in turn rotate with the Milky Way? The helix (or double helix, two intertwined spirals) is the model of life's progress.
As I age, I come into a "second childhood". I look backward; I can see a long distance into the past. When I supplement with history, I can see to the beginning of time on earth. I have not as much time to look forward to, but when I supplement with science and futurism, I can see all the way to the end of the universe. Like an onion, I put on the layers of my life, and like an onion, I begin with age to peel away the layers back to the core. There is the beginning and the end.
The pace of change is accelerating. A great-grandfather could live to a old age and know that his present was not much different from his past. But his great-grandson as an elderly person could look back from a longer life expectancy and see a present much changed from his youthful life. More and more personal and historical events are being compacted into ever smaller units of time. The word "events" includes much more than events. Morals. Values. Reality. Belief. Rationalism. Philosophy. Zeitgeist. Paradigm.
Every body part we own has great age, building upon the failures and successes of body experiments that have preceded us. But mostly the successes of survival have gotten us here to this point. Choosing successful strategies of science and changing paradigms to keep up with the ever-changing environments internal and external may produce more successful forms in newly emergent contexts of living, populations, ecology, social structures.
Read: www.kheper.net
(Last updated on January 30, 2006 )