A framework that seeks to understand and classify the different types of scientific paradigms themselves. It's a paradigm about paradigms. For instance, it might categorize paradigms as reductionist vs. holistic, deterministic vs. probabilistic, or mechanistic vs. vitalistic. It asks: What are the meta-categories that all scientific worldviews fall into? This is a bird's-eye view of the landscape of possible scientific thought.
Scientific Metaparadigm Theory Example: Seeing Darwinian evolution (contingent, historical) and Newtonian physics (deterministic, law-based) as belonging to two different Metaparadigms—one focused on narrative and history, the other on timeless laws—is an act of Scientific Metaparadigm Theory. It helps explain why these fields have such different cultures and standards of proof.
by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal February 4, 2026
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