Kuhn 12: Scarves and hats
Suppose that someone deliberately says "scarf" where we would say "hat" and says "hat" where we would say "scarf," out of whimsy or contrariness. We could say he's breaking the rules. Suppose someone else - not deliberately, but perhaps because he's a foreigner just learning the language, or a young child, or has some cognitive impairment - also
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1. A rectangular or triangular piece of cloth, worn about the neck or head for protection, warmth, or adornment. 2. Any piece of neckwear, such as a cravat or muffler. 3. A runner, as for a bureau of table. 4. Military. A sash denoting rank.
Def'ns 1 and 2 are the relevant ones for our purpose. Say that the definitions are "rules." Now, 1 seems complete for one kind of scarf, both describes it and gives all three of its functions. Question: if there were a light cloth that was oval rather than rectangular but was used as a scarf, wouldn't you call that a scarf? What about a pentagon? (Say you worked at the Pentagon and were given a pentagonal scarf as souvenir.) I think the answer is yes and that those situations aren't even marginal. But what about shawls? Can't there be some overlap here, between shawls and scarves? Also, I can imagine that if this bit of English usage had developed differently, scarves might not be called "scarves" when used to protect the head, might be called "hats" instead, though I can see how that usage would be inconvenient for clothes stores. Now def'n 2 is a bit more problematic: the definition of cravat points out the difficulty: "A necktie or a scarf worn as a necktie." So how is it that you know from these definitions when it's a scarf being worn as a necktie and when it's a necktie being worn as a necktie? What about dog collars worn by humans? What about cloth collars worn like dog collars? What about neckties worn where there is no shirt collar to attach it to? What about two small scarves tied together and used as a necklace? What about ten small bits of cloth used as a necklace? What about necklaces period?
Now, with enough time we might well be able to come up with an exhaustive set of definitions and exclusions that take care of every situation we can imagine in regard to scarves. (Other words might be a lot harder, and I'm not even thinking of obviously contested terms like "rock" and "pop." Think of the word "rule," for instance.) But I think a point that Kuhn would make would be that in this instance (1)we don't need to, and (2) we don't. There may be a small borderline area involving cravats and scarves and collars and necklaces where there can be some question or choice as to when you use the word "scarf," but even here I doubt that there's any serious difficulty in communication or understanding. And by whatever process you learned how to use the word "scarf" when you were a kid, I doubt very much that you ever formulated a rule for differentiating between scarves and necklaces. Not that you necessarily couldn't have formulated a rule, but that you didn't, because one was hardly necessary. You could distinguish between scarves and necklaces without a rule for doing so.
A couple of counterarguments might be (1) even though you didn't formulate a rule, nonetheless a rule was in effect, or (2) you did formulate the rule, but once it became second nature, you no longer needed the formulation, so you forgot the formula, but the second nature nonetheless follows the rule that you formulated.
A question here, though, might be, if a rule can be unstated but nonetheless in effect, or stated and forgotten but still in effect, can it still be considered a rule? And by calling it a "rule," what are you differentiating it from? What semantically is a near neighbor to a rule that nonetheless you wouldn't call a rule?
And returning our thoughts to Kuhn, he might think there is a disadvantage to employing a "rule" that makes "rules" less effective than "paradigms." So, again, what is the distinction he's trying to draw? Whether or not he thinks there's a disadvantage, he thinks that there's a difference.
What might the relative advantages and disadvantages be of rules and paradigms?
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