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particular areas of scientific expertise. In this case, only those scientists working within
that particular area of inquiry are affected by a revolution. Kuhn uses the example of
astronomers and the discovery of X-rays to demonstrate. The paradigm change relating
the emergence of X-Rays was very important to scientists working in the field of
radiation theory or cathode ray tubes. The “emergence of X-rays necessarily violated
one paradigm as it created another” (Kuhn, 1996, p. 93). However, to an astronomer X-
rays are perceived as an addition of knowledge, but they remain otherwise unaffected
by this new discovery. So it is with discrete areas of societal governance. The following
example illustrates.
In 2003 the New Zealand government enacted legislation enforcing a complete ban of
smoking in public places including work places, restaurants and bars. Prior to its ban,
smoking in public places was accepted as a social norm. However, growing scientific
evidence reinforced the detrimental affects of smoking on health, most recently
research confirming the link between lung cancer and passive smoking. This, coupled
with the government’s desire to promote healthy work places, provoked the move
against smoking in public places (Bell, 2003). The normal social rules and conventions
of the old paradigm were no longer compatible with the new paradigm and a period of
destabilisation ensued. As the conflict arose between the two paradigms a micro state of
nature relating specifically to smoking in public places followed.
Kuhn refers to the period of conflict between paradigms in scientific revolution as
debate. When a new and old paradigm conflict, the two different sides discuss the
relative merits of their respective paradigms. As no two paradigms leave the same
problems unsolved, so the debate asks which problems are more significant to solve
(Emory, n.d. p. 13). The debate provides the opportunity for scientists to discuss why
either the new or the old paradigm should be followed, during which their values are
revealed.
So the micro state of nature which occurs between a new and an old paradigm in
discrete areas of governance can occur within public debate. Society has formal and
informal mechanisms to facilitate this debate, such as the media, group action, and
parliament’s debating chamber and, in relation to the best interest test, common law.
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