Other Definitions
exemplar (dict)
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ExemplarExemplar, in the sense of Thomas Kuhn, is a concrete example or application of a scientific theory known to all scientists in a discipline. According to Kuhn, scientific evolution alternates between normal science and revolutions. During normalcy, scientists tend to agree in a large body of knowledge and methods. Normal science presents a series of puzzles that are solved as scientists explore their field. The solution to some of these puzzles become well known and are the exemplars of the field. Kuhn introduced the concept of exemplar in a postscript to the second edition of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. He notes that - "because the term paradigm has assumed a life of its own ... I shall here substitute exemplars. By it I mean, initially, the concrete problem-solutions that student encounter from the start of their scientific education, whether in laboratories, on examinations, or at the ends of chapters in science texts. ... All physicists, for example, begin by learning the same exemplars: problems such as the inclined plane, the conical pendulum, and Keplerian orbits; instruments such as the vernier, the calorimeter, and the Wheatstone bridge."
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