THOMAS KUHN’S INCOMMENSURABILITY THEORY: IMPLICATIONS FOR ETHNIC DIVERSITY IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This study examines Thomas Kuhn’s Incommensurability theory and its implications for ethnic diversity in Nigeria. Science offers a unique explanation of phenomena in the universe through the formulation of theories. There are many theories in the scientific world today. The history of science attests to this. The problem of ascertaining the nature of the relationship between successive and different scientific theories or paradigms is a controversial issue among philosophers of science. Philosophers of science have advanced different ideas to explain such relationship. Logical positivists argue that successive scientific theories are actually related; and such relationship gives room for objective comparison between them. Karl Popper maintains that critical discussion and comparison of different scientific frameworks is possible. However, Thomas Kuhn employed the term ‘incommensurability’ to describe the relationship between successive and different scientific theories. Thus, he denies any common measure or standard for evaluating them. This study employs analytical and hermeneutical methods to examine Kuhn’s incommensurability theory in order to discover its implications for ethnic diversity in Nigeria. Nigeria has many ethnic groups, and often, there are conflicts between them. The conflicts may partly be attributed to misunderstandings arising from evaluating one ethnic group with the standards of another ethnic group. This study maintains that attention to Kuhn’s incommensurability theory would enable Nigerians understand that each ethnic group is unique, and as such may not be properly evaluated with the standards of another ethnic group. The study concludes that attention to Kuhn’s incommensurability theory would help curtail ethnocentricism, and thus engender peaceful co-existence between different ethnic groups in Nigeria.