Power Paradigms

The theory that whoever holds power determines not just policies but paradigms—the very frameworks through which reality is understood. Power Paradigms argues that truth, logic, science, and reality itself are shaped by those who control institutions, resources, and discourse. The powerful don't just dominate the world; they dominate the terms by which the world is understood. Paradigms shift not when evidence accumulates but when power shifts—when new groups gain the ability to define what counts as knowledge, what counts as reasonable, what counts as real. Power Paradigms explains why history is written by the victors, why certain knowledge is marginalized, why some truths are unspeakable. It's the theory that reality has a ruling class.

Example: "He used to think science was pure, objective, above politics. Then he learned about Power Paradigms—how funding shapes research, how institutions control publication, how those with power determine what counts as knowledge. Science wasn't corrupted; it was always political. The question wasn't whether power influenced knowledge, but whose power, and toward what ends."

by Abzugal February 21, 2026

Logical Paradigms

The recognition that logic itself operates within paradigms—frameworks that determine what counts as logical, what methods are valid, what inferences are allowed. Logical Paradigms vary across cultures, historical periods, and domains. Classical logic is one paradigm; intuitionistic logic is another; paraconsistent logic is another; fuzzy logic is another. None is "logic itself"; all are logics, each adequate to certain purposes, each limited by its assumptions. Understanding Logical Paradigms is essential for escaping logical absolutism—the belief that one's own logic is logic.

Example: "He'd thought there was one logic—the logic. Logical Paradigms showed him otherwise: different logics for different purposes, different frameworks for different domains. His logic wasn't logic; it was a logic. The plural mattered."

by Abzugal March 9, 2026

Rational Paradigms

The recognition that rationality itself operates within paradigms—frameworks that determine what counts as rational, what methods are appropriate, what standards apply. Rational Paradigms vary across cultures, historical periods, and domains. What was rational in one era (bleeding patients) is irrational now; what's rational in one culture (ancestor worship) may seem irrational in another. Understanding Rational Paradigms is essential for escaping the assumption that one's own rationality is simply rationality—that one's way of reasoning is the way.

Example: "He judged other cultures' practices as irrational. Rational Paradigms showed him otherwise: they were rational within their own frameworks, using their own standards. His rationality wasn't the measure; it was one measure among many."

by Abzugal March 9, 2026

Scientific Paradigms

The core concept from Kuhn: the frameworks of assumptions, methods, and standards within which normal science operates. Scientific Paradigms define what questions are worth asking, what methods are appropriate, what counts as evidence, what constitutes a solution. They're the invisible structures that make normal science possible—and that make revolutionary science so traumatic. Understanding Scientific Paradigms is essential for understanding how science actually works, not how it's idealized.

Example: "He'd thought science just accumulated facts. Scientific Paradigms showed him otherwise: facts were always facts-within-a-paradigm. When paradigms shifted, facts shifted too. Science wasn't a straight line; it was a series of revolutions."

by Abzugal March 9, 2026

Cognitive Paradigms

The frameworks of assumptions, concepts, and processes that shape how individuals and groups think, perceive, and understand. Cognitive Paradigms include mental models, conceptual schemes, cognitive styles, and ways of knowing—all the structures that shape how we make sense of the world. They're what cognitive science studies when it examines how minds work, but with the added recognition that these structures are not universal but vary across individuals, cultures, and contexts.

Example: "She thought everyone thought like her. Cognitive Paradigms showed her otherwise: different minds, different paradigms. Her way of thinking wasn't the way; it was a way."

by Abzugal March 9, 2026

Social Paradigms

The frameworks of assumptions, values, and practices that shape how societies organize themselves, how people relate to each other, how social reality is constructed. Social Paradigms include norms, institutions, power relations, and cultural categories—all the invisible structures that make social life possible. They're what we mean when we talk about "the way things are done"—which is always just one way among many, made to seem natural by its familiarity.

Example: "He thought his society's way of organizing gender was just natural. Social Paradigms showed him otherwise: it was one paradigm among many, constructed not given, contingent not necessary. Other societies did it differently; his could too."

by Abzugal March 9, 2026

Ivory Paradigms

Scientific paradigms understood as a form of ivory culture—the shared frameworks, assumptions, methods, and exemplars that define normal science within a community, but viewed through the lens of academic power rather than pure epistemology. Ivory paradigms are not just ways of seeing but ways of controlling—they determine who counts as a legitimate investigator, what questions are worth asking, which methods are acceptable, and how results will be interpreted. To work within an ivory paradigm is to be protected, funded, published, and celebrated. To work outside it is to be ignored, dismissed, or actively suppressed. The paradigm is ivory because it's not just a cognitive framework but a social institution, not just a way of knowing but a way of excluding.

Example: "His research was solid, but it didn't fit the reigning paradigm—so it was ignored, unfunded, unpublished. Ivory Paradigms: not just ways of seeing, but walls that keep certain things from being seen at all."

by Dumu The Void March 14, 2026