A paradigm is a shared framework of assumptions, methods, and standards that a community adopts to interpret phenomena and guide practice within a domain. Its parameters: (1) it operates at the level of the collective, not the individual; (2) it prescribes both what counts as a valid problem and what counts as a valid solution; (3) it persists through teaching, institutionalization, and the training of new practitioners. A paradigm is replaceable — it does not accumulate truth but gets superseded when a rival framework solves more anomalies with comparable coherence. Its persistence mechanism is social reproduction: education systems, professional societies, journal standards, and peer review enforce its boundaries until a crisis opens space for the new. [formal: paradigma | substrate: mind | horizon: generations | explicit: yes | epoch: 1.01]
Accepted ontology entry
paradigm
A paradigm is a shared framework of assumptions, methods, and standards that a community adopts to interpret phenomena and guide practice within a domain. Its parameters: (1) it operates at the level of the collective, not the individual;…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A paradigm is a human-made framework of concepts, assumptions, and practices shared by a community that shapes how its members perceive, interpret, and act within a domain. It is the map of reality that a group collectively adopts — not reality itself. Scope justification: paradigms are entirely human-made social and cognitive constructs, existing only through collective adoption and maintenance. Law 2a applies: the paradigm is the map, not the territory it describes.
Names and aliases
- paradigmen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmrmhss4y00b1d1nlmdi8hm3vDEPENDS_ON →
Remove abstraction — does the paradigm stop working? Yes. A paradigm is an abstract framework or pattern that organizes thought and practice. Without the capacity for abstraction, no paradigm can exist. This is constitutive: paradigms are made entirely of abstracted patterns.
- cmrmvlaij01oad1nli38q912pINSTANCE_OF →
A paradigm is a specific kind of worldview — a particular framework for understanding reality. INSTANCE_OF per Law 9: specific→general.
- cmrr9z9vq011vq89dp8aiyqhyINSTANCE_OF →
A paradigm IS a kind of conceptual framework. A paradigm is a specific type of conceptual framework that establishes the accepted assumptions, methods, and standards within a discipline or field. The competent-speaker test passes: 'a paradigm is a kind of conceptual framework.' Nearest kind is conceptual-framework.
Relations to this entry
- cmrvcke1b00qi2ceishnbt88y← INSTANCE_OF
Epistemic-frame IS a specific kind of paradigm (Law 9). An epistemic frame is a structured conceptual framework that determines what counts as knowledge, evidence, and truth within a discourse. A competent speaker would call an epistemic frame 'a kind of paradigm' — it is the paradigm in its epistemic dimension, governing what can be known and how.
- cmrugstdx0191r6713u8czei4← DERIVED_FROM
paradigm-shift DERIVED_FROM paradigm: which came first? A paradigm must exist before one can have a shift in it. Thomas Kuhn's concept requires a pre-existing paradigm (a set of practices/beliefs) for the shift to be meaningful. Direction: paradigm-shift depends chronologically on paradigm existing first.
Record identity
- Created
- Jul 15, 2026, 10:29 PM UTC
- Content hash
- 44f142a742ad1e5aeffb3c7756d9d50b08c378794b11bfdcf969f9d6637e0afe