Assignment #1 due in class September 10, 1997:

On p. 91 of The Structure of Engineering Revolutions, Kuhn summarizes much of his argument:

"The proliferation of competing articulations, the willingness to try anything, the expression of explicit discontent, the recourse to philosophy and the debate over fundamentals, all these are symptoms of a transition from normal to extraordinary research. It is upon their existence more than upon that of revolutions that the notion of normal science depends."

Explain this statement with reference to Kuhn’s text* ; then revise the statement to make it apply to engineering and technology; expand with examples to your own engineering experience. Does normal engineering also depend on such "effects of crisis" more than on the notion of revolution itself?