Theory Change and Scientific Progress | Recipes for Science | Dr. Angela Potochnik

Scientific knowledge changes over time. Sometimes that means the wholesale abandonment of a major scientific theory in favor of a new one, like when Einstein’s theories of relativity radically changed our understanding of space and time. This kind of major theory change is rare, but it happens. Thomas Kuhn famously called these “paradigm shifts.” Some people worry that the possibility of major changes in scientific theories interferes with the trustworthiness of scientific knowledge. We’ll think through that possibility in this video, ultimately concluding that science is trustworthy despite changes in scientific theories over time.
This video is aligned with Chapter 12 of the book Recipes for Science: An Introduction to Scientific Methods and Reasoning, by Angela Potochnik, Matteo Colombo, and Cory Wright.