Unity of Knowledge in the Advancement of Nursing Knowledge
Karen K. Giuliano, Lynda Tyer-Viola and Ruth Palan Lopez Nurs Sci Q 2005 18: 243 DOI: 10.1177/0894318405277527 The online version of this article can be found at: http://nsq.sagepub.com/content/18/3/243
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Once this occurs, there is agreement that something is fundamentally wrong within the existing paradigm, a crisis ensues, and a revolution occurs. This revolution ultimately results in a major shift in thinking and the acceptance of a new paradigm. According to Kuhn (1970), the new paradigm is so dissimilar from the earlier paradigm that previously accepted tenets are incommensurable with those defined within the newly accepted paradigm. Incommensurable signifies that the set of scientific concepts, propositions, problems, and solutions have changed so dramatically that they no longer have meaning in the new paradigm. Questions once considered as central to the previous paradigm may no longer be questions at all. Incommensurability is manifested as an inability to translate previous ideas into the new language of the new paradigm. When first published, Kuhn’s (1970) ideas were revolutionary and shook the long held view of progressive scientific development that suggests that each stage of knowledge building in science was based on the accomplishments of its predecessors. Each scientific discipline depends on the findings and interpretations of its predecessors, both inside and outside of the discipline. In the spirit of Aristotle, the underlying