The transition from animal spirits to animal electricity: a neuroscience paradigm shift

Journal of the History of the Neurosciences
W T Clower

Abstract

The Animal Spirits Paradigm had been in place for over a thousand years as a general way of looking at the nervous system, and was completely ingrained into the fabric of scientific thinking. However, the community of researchers in the 17th and 18th centuries abandoned their long-held assumptions, and started anew with the novel assertion that the currency of nervous function was, instead of Animal Spirits, a uniquely amimal electricity. This conceptual rearrangement represented a scientific revolution in thinking, a change in absolute perspective that required the reinterpretation of old data within a completely novel framework. The manner in which this transition occurred followed the general form of scientific paradigm shifts as outlined by Thomas Kuhn (Kuhn, 1962)

Citations

Jul 17, 2008·Journal of the History of the Neurosciences·Marco Piccolino
Feb 26, 2010·Journal of the History of the Neurosciences·Stanley Finger, Ian Ferguson
Dec 15, 2004·The Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences. Le Journal Canadien Des Sciences Neurologiques·André Parent
Oct 18, 2001·The Journal of Legal Medicine·F R Freemon
Mar 15, 2015·Medical History·Katherine A Walker
May 15, 2018·Biology & Philosophy·David Parker

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