jons@aix.aix.kingston.ibm.com (Jon Spencer) (06/08/90)
All right! I think that it is important, from a justice standpoint. to identify who it was who popularized the word "paradigm" (pardon me!). I was forced to read it. I was forced to look it up! Now, I am even being forced to use it! Enough is enough! Does anybody out there have any idea of who first used paradigm whilst speaking/writing computerese, and who actually was the one person who popularized it????? There will be a reward for the person who finds the earliest usage. Citations required to be eligible. Also, for those of you who think that paradigm is a wonderful word, there will also be a prize for the best flame about people like me. -------- Jon Spencer || The only corporate jons@chaos.aix.kingston.ibm.com || defense against rationality Landline: (914)385-4957 (tie line 695) || is bureaucracy. SneakerNet: Kingston 005-3-8NC-1/MS 527 ||
phillips@nrl-cmf.UUCP (Lee Phillips) (06/08/90)
You can blame _The Structure of Scientific Revolutions_ by
T. Kuhn. I'm convinced that when this book became wildly
popular among "Philosophers of Science" and their wide-eyed
students, that the word "paradigm", which appears several
times per page therein, became firmly rooted in the jargon
of all fields peripheral to science. Before that book
took off, and even now, probably, one can still use the
word in its ordinary meaning without embarrassment.
Lee Phillips
phillips@cmf.nrl.navy.mil