In 1962, Thomas Kuhn, the famous Harvard physicist and philosopher, explained the nature of “paradigms” in science. His book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, articulated how scientific disciplines were woven into the specific language and models in which theories exist.
These paradigms sometimes shift, it is said. Even though Kuhn’s book still makes my head hurt, we see these shifts in science all the same. Contrast, for example, the 16th century paradigm that body and mind were separate, with the new conventional wisdom; that mind is merely the byproduct of body and brain interactions. Today this link between physiology and psychology isn’t just patched in theories about autism connected to stomach problems, but in disorders such as Capgras syndrome (a specific delusion involving a patient who believes a loved one is an imposter), revealing how the distinct lack of emotions can lead to irrational thinking.