Study Guide: Chapter 2 — The Route to Normal Science

Core Concept

A field becomes a science by acquiring its first paradigm — an achievement compelling enough to end school-vs-school warfare and open-ended enough to leave work for everyone. Maturity's symptoms: journals, specialization, losing the lay audience.

Key Terms

Paradigm · pre-paradigm period · schools · esoteric research

Case Summary

Optics before Newton and electricity before Franklin: multiple scientific-in-method schools, no consolidation. Newton's Opticks and Franklin's Leyden-jar account each ended the foundational debate and started cumulative work.

Application Checklist

• [ ] Classify your field/team: pre-paradigm or paradigmatic?
• [ ] Name your discipline's founding exemplar and what it declared solvable
• [ ] Spot one debate that professionalization silenced — assess the loss

Self-Test

1. Two properties every paradigm needs?
2. Why is losing the general reader a sign of maturity?
3. What distinguishes random fact-gathering from paradigm-directed research?