Read the passage and answer the questions: "Normal science, the activity in which most scientists inevitably spend almost all their time, is based on the assumption that the scientific community knows what the world is like. Scientists take great pains to defend that assumption, often restricting their vision to the phenomena that the existing paradigm has defined as relevant. When research proceeds in this fashion, findings tend to be incremental, reinforcing the established framework rather than challenging it. Yet, over time, anomalies—empirical observations that cannot be explained within the current paradigm—accumulate. Initially, these anomalies are dismissed as errors or as problems to be solved within the existing theoretical structure. However, as these anomalies grow in number and significance, they begin to erode confidence in the prevailing paradigm. The resolution of such crises is not a straightforward process of falsification, as Popper might suggest, but rather a transformation in the very way scientists see the world. Scientific revolutions occur when a new paradigm emerges—one that is not merely an extension of the old but a fundamental reconceptualization of reality. This shift is not purely logical or empirical; it involves a radical change in perspective, akin to a gestalt switch. The Copernican Revolution, for example, did not merely adjust astronomical calculations; it redefined the very framework through which celestial motion was understood. Similarly, Einstein's theory of relativity did not just modify Newtonian mechanics but replaced its foundational assumptions about space and time."
According to the passage, why do scientific revolutions represent a rupture rather than a continuation of prior science?
Because competing paradigms redefine questions and methods, making continuity impossible.
Because competing paradigms redefine questions and methods, making continuity impossible. is correct.
The passage says a new paradigm is "not merely an extension of the old but a fundamental reconceptualization of reality". The Copernican Revolution "redefined the very framework through which celestial motion was understood", and relativity "replaced" Newton's foundational assumptions about space and time.
When the framework itself changes, the questions worth asking and the ways of answering them change too, so the new science cannot simply continue the old one; it breaks from it.
The passage never says scientists abandon objectivity, never says all earlier findings become invalid, and never says scientists stop collecting data; anomalies are in fact empirical observations that drive the change.
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Which of the following sums up the central idea of the passage?
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Who was understanding, clever, haughty and reserved?
Important Questions from Reading Comprehension
What is the meaning of ‘intrigued’?
What are ice shelves?
What are icebergs?
When the iceberg turns upside down, it appears ________.
The use of science in its simple form has helped man to ____________
