This following quote illustrates perfectly the issue of paradigm in understanding physical phenomena and science.
“What makes planets go around the sun? At the time of Kepler some people answered this problem by saying that there were angels behind them beating their wings and pushing the planets around an orbit. As you will see the answer is not very different from the truth. The only difference is that the angels sit in a different direction and their wings push inward.”
(R. Feynman, Character of Physical Law, 1967)
[A planet orbits because it accelerates in the direction of the sun’s gravity. As far as we know, gravity could be caused by tiny angels beating their wings.]
From:
http://www.geocities.com/ilian73/feynman.html
Rudolf Steiner was always careful to distinguish between the research of science – physical laws, causes and effects, etc. – and the paradigm by which the results are interpreted. He was essentially arguing for a paradigm shift – no facts were to be contradicted; only the results were to be reinterpreted. He and other authors could consciously make the paradigm shift – think conventionally, then consider the same facts from a different (for example Anthroposophical point of view) and even compare them.
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