Paradigm Shifts and Human Nature

September 10th, 2006 Fred McVittie Posted in Evolution, History, Paradigm, Universals |

The periodic large-scale changes in the structure of knowledge which have come to be referred to as ‘paradigm shifts’ undoubtedly make significant changes to the organisation of culture and power, the technical and physical resources available, the philosophies discussed and taught in Universities etc etc. Do such apparently seismic shifts have any appreciable affect on those behaviours, attitudes, and actions that might be attributed to ‘universal human nature’? It seems likely that, since much of human nature is a result of the slow accretion of adaptive behaviour, that this will have a natural damping effect on any such rapid change. It is more likely that whilst large scale ‘paradigm shifts’ in human knowledge will affect the organisation of cultures, they will not affect the overall function of those cultures, which is to provide for the human needs of their members.