NOVEMBER 1998, VOLUME 26, NUMBER 2, Abstract 1
THEORIES OF HYPNOSIS: DO THEY MEET KUHN’S CRITERIA FOR THE EVALUATION OF SCIENTIFIC THEORIES?
Hildegard Quixley, Victoria University
Gerard A. Kennedy, Victoria University
According to Kuhn’s (1977) criteria for evaluating scientific theories no one theory adequately explains hypnosis. Initially it seems as if theories of hypnosis are still pre-science because the scientific community has not yet selected one paradigm to the exclusion of other paradigms. Within the terms of Kuhn’s theory this indicates that the theories of hypnosis have not yet entered the stage of normal science and the real work of science has not yet begun. However, it can be demonstrated that the real work of science has been occurring in the field of hypnosis for many years, and that there are valid reasons for the abundance of theories purporting to explain hypnosis. An alternative view, which will be presented in this paper, is that the theories of hypnosis are all part of the same paradigm and that hypnosis is, in fact, in the stage of normal science.