Changes

|Prehistory=Although almost all of the great philosophers of science of the 20th century have described the history of science in terms of a changing, systematic collection of beliefs, there has never been a real consensus in the language used to describe such a collection. [[Thomas Kuhn]] used the word ''paradigm'' to talk of integrated collections of theories, methods, and values that were replaced during episodes of revolutionary scientific change.[[CiteRef::Bird (2011)]] [[CiteRef::Kuhn (1962)]] [[Imre Lakatos]] described a set of propositions as fitting into a scientific “research programme”[[CiteRef::Lakatos (1978a)]]; [[Larry Laudan]] used the concept of ''research tradition''.[[CiteRef::Matheson and Dallmann (2015)]][[CiteRef::Laudan (1984)]] Richard DeWitt talks of “worldviews” to describe the beliefs held by a scientific community at any given time.[[CiteRef::DeWitt (2010)|p. 7]]

There has also been debate concerning whether or not scientific methods change over time. The methods of science were once supposed to be fixed. The idea that methods should be included as historically relative elements within a community’s system of beliefs is known as [[Static and Dynamic Methods|the dynamic method thesis]], and was proposed by [[Paul Feyerabend]] in the 1970’s.[[CiteRef::Preston (2016)]] [[CiteRef::Feyerabend (1975)]] In the late 1980's, the question of the existence of static methods became a focal point of the debate between Larry Laudan and John Worrall. In his ''Science and Values'', Laudan (referred to as the 'later Laudan' because his views changed substantially over his career) argued that no method of theory assessment is immune to change. Worrall disagreed, claiming that there are some methods which have persisted throughout all changes.[[CiteRef::Laudan (1984)]][[CiteRef::Worrall (1988)]] [[CiteRef::Laudan (1989)]] [[CiteRef::Worrall (1989)]] The idea that scientific methods change through time is now generally accepted among contemporary historians and philosophers of science.