孔恩典範轉移研究：以H. Pylori的發現對醫學典範轉移之研究爲例

Abstract

This paper deals with the example of the Nobel Prize winners for medicine in 2005, Barry J. Marshal and Robin Warren and its implications of paradigm shift in science asserted by Thomas Kuhn. The two scientists found the Helicobacter pylori in 1982 that caused the peptic ulcer. Having changed the cognition and assertion of conventional gastroenterological circles who assumed the factor of the disease being pressure on emotion and abnormal life style, they discussed and discovered the real cause of the disease. Such research subverts the traditional and conventional medical knowledge to the extent that it confirms the importance of Kuhn's theory of paradigm and its shift. This essay treats Anton van Leeuwenhoek's finding of bacterium, through the discovery of the microorganism causing the corruption of gravy by Louis Pasteur, to the conventional scientific community which accepted the concept of bacterium and its effect on the peptic ulcer. In the history of human peptic ulcer, bacterium in fact was close to the occurrence of the disease. However, the two Australian physicians, in order to solve the problem, began to take another research approach and finally found helicobacter pylori as the real cause of peptic ulcer. Thus confirmed the existence and application of Kuhn's postulate, namely the paradigm shift in science. This paper discusses the historical fact of medical scientific revolution, including the doubts raised by the members of medical scientific community and the final success of the ”dissidents”, their efforts to get rid of the obstructions established by the scientific circles. Thus, it is worthy to study the theory and practice of the paradigm and its shift propounded by Thomas Kuhn.