Anomaly or a New Paradigm?

Anomaly or a New Paradigm? Who and How Make Scientific Revolutions, and Why It’s Important to Know How the Nervous System Arose

In his famous book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962), Thomas Kuhn asserts that a scientific revolution begins with the accumulation of unexplained “anomalies” that break down old explanatory schemes and lead to a paradigm shift.

An example of such a shift is research in mid‑20th century neurobiology.

• In the 1950s, Academician Khachatur S. Koshtoyants developed a postreflex (chemical) paradigm of nervous system function.

• His student, Doctor of Biological Sciences Dmitry A. Sakharov, dedicated his life to asserting a new paradigm that questioned the traditional understanding of reflexes.

Fundamental questions faced science:

• Did the nervous system arise once or multiple times — in different animal types?

• How should neurons be classified by their origin?

• What is “volume transmission,” and how does it operate without the participation of nerve cells?