![]() ![]() Movements for women’s education, the freeing of slaves, religious toleration, civil liberties and the right of national self-determination all grew from these great Enlightenment principles. The Enlightenment vision of universalism, liberty and sovereignty of the people would be realized over time, replacing the conventional wisdom of an earlier day with its hierarchical society, the divine right of kings, duties not rights for the lower order, and sympathy limited to one’s own narrow circle. “Social science,” sometimes the “political and moral sciences,” dates from the 18th century Enlightenment, in the audacious proposal of Condorcet (probably) that we need a social science to ground the social art–the social art meaning better ways of governing society. We could usefully begin by looking at the paradigm shift that brought our own discipline of sociology into being, beginning with the broader framework of “social science,” the term used (also moral philosophy and social philosophy) before “sociology” came into use in the late 19th century. Sociologists, given our training in core social science concepts, theory and methodology, should be able to help in understanding the scope and direction of the changes needed. Here I will explore how we sociologists need to re-look at underlying social theory, the ideas that shape our approaches to political and economic decision making. (Let’s ignore arguments over when “peak oil” might occur or did occur–a reasonable estimate is some 65 million years ago).Īs citizens of the world and inhabitants of planet Earth we need to do many things to reduce our excessive use of resources (especially non-renewable fossil fuels) and to tread more lightly on the earth. Humankind faces this urgent need to confront global heating, moreover, at the same time as conventional sources of fossil fuels, i.e., relatively available and efficient oil and gas, are almost at their end. ![]() Rather, experts warn us that climate breakdown has begun, and if we do not act swiftly and seriously the consequences will be far worse than if we do act now. Now, with climate change, everything changes, and we do not have a generation to wait for adherents of the old paradigm to die off. His observation that paradigms do not in fact shift until their adherents are replaced with a new generation, however, is a daunting prospect. Sociologists have found the concept of paradigm shift useful since Thomas Kuhn’s publication of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions in 1962. of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Guelph Please believe first acknowledging an extreme atomic negativity which could nuke all of us dead, ridding the Earth of all Humans and so their problems, but also imagine on extreme opposite being that of atomic positivity, where prosperity for all simply depends on leadership for their work efficiency, and in that better extreme might most of our foolish little problems be solved also though truly.A paper for the Canadian Sociology Association Meetings, 2007ĭept. There is a huge higher set of relativity, that can solve virtually all of our foolish worldly problems, a paradigm shift could come from real leadership. ![]() In a paradigm shift we'd again eat our vegetables instead of smoke them, we'd be creditted from and use what we're made of, such as Hydrogen for fuel instead of pollution. Ideally a paradigm shift is an ascension of sorts, like when humankind civillized or evolved, to the point where they stopped believing that the gods wanted them to sacrifice virgins. ![]() It isn't as wise to not publish a visionary who foresees a better future, using imagination as well as calculation that may ideal a greater reality, despite our seeming knowledge now of the society apparently. Einstein once said, "imagination is more important than knowledge." He may be partly right, as I apologize, the above definition is for paradigm, perhaps allow me to better example a paradigm shift here. ![]()
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