After re-reading Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, I am more convinced than ever that there have been at least two true paradigm shifts in physics: The Copernican Revolution and Quantum Mechanics ( I am still on the fence about Relativity).
But is there such as thing as a paradigm shift in philosophy?
I am not sure. Perhaps Gödel’s proof which showed that every system of mathematical axioms statements can be neither proved or disproved could be one, although to make a case for that would requires a deeper understanding of the philosophy of mathematics than I have.
Or perhaps there was a paradigm shift in the philosophy of ethics with Nietzsche’s writings? Nietzsche might think so, but I am not sure he would even refer to his ideas as to philosophy—after all, he did sometimes sign his letters after the playful, dangerous god Dionysus, and I think someone who does that would look at the words “paradigm shift” with contempt.
Anyway, I suspect there are a lot fewer “paradigm shifts” going on than Corporate America would allow us to believe, and I am not convinced it’s a concept which even applies to philosophy.