Paradigm Shift

                  A man runs, panting, trying to escape the darkness…trying to escape the unknown. Night surrounds him, encompassing darkness, only broken by rays of light reflected off the moon. For eons it had been this way, however, tonight was different. The man continues his dash, the ground rushing beneath his feet. Suddenly, he pauses and strikes two rocks together…CRACK! Something flickers to life. At first only sparks…CRACK! Then weak wavering forms…CRACK! Finally, a torrent of light, and… FIRE! Suddenly man is not bound by the darkness. Man looks into the shadows and grins. 

Fire is created.

A paradigm shift occurs.            

             Along with the ability to create and control fire history has witnessed numerous paradigm shifts. Other inventions and discoveries also have caused paradigm shifts. The introduction of planes to warfare changed how wars were fought and won. Gunpowder, the printing press, the assembly line, the microchip, and the internet have changed how the world works.  

              Thomas Kuhn, the man who coined the term, “paradigm shift,” in his book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, claimed that paradigm shifts could only be applied to science. However, a “paradigm shift” has come to mean an acceptance by the majority in a belief or a way of doing things. Other examples of paradigm shifts include the signing of the Magana Carta, the industrial revolution, and the acceptance of Einstein’s relativistic world view.    

             Ideas and beliefs that bring about paradigm shifts will face opposition. The opposition comes from previous generations. Those opposed have a hard time accepting change. (It is not just about accepting change according to Kuhn.  It is about having the old paradigm actually blind them to the possibility of thinking in news ways about the facts they are looking at.) What occurs next is a clash between the old and new school way of doing things, eventually the new school usurps the old.

            In Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel, An Artist of the Floating World, the main character Ono is experiencing a paradigm shift. The novel is set in post World War II Japan. Ono experiences inner conflict over whether to accept the new westernized Japan or to cling onto the old imperialistic Japan.     

            Ono’s struggle is most easily understood through his dealings with those younger than himself. In one instance he is thinking about his son-in-law and others of his generation, “These days I see it all around me; something has changed in the character of the younger generation in a way I do not fully understand, and certain aspects of this change are undeniably disturbing.”(59) Ono’s displeasure with the younger generation mirrors how he feels about the shift from Japanese to western culture.  

              Ishiguro uses another character, the Hirayama boy, as an analogy to Ono’s situation. The Hirayama boy is a man with the, “mental age of a child.”(60) He is known throughout Ono’s town because he wanders the streets singing patriotic songs.  This was not a problem before the war; after the war it is a problem. The Hirayama boy is beaten up for singing these songs. Ono cannot comprehend why someone would beat up a mentally handicap person singing old songs. Ono’s lack of comprehension shows that he has not come to grips with the end of the old imperialistic Japanese paradigm. To some extent Ono is the Hirayama boy.            

                 After showing Ono’s having a hard time grasping the younger generation, something should be said in his defense. For, as the story progresses we see Ono coming to terms with his past. Ono actually faces up to his mistakes concerning the war, “As far as I am concerned, I freely admit I made many mistakes, I accept that much of what I did was ultimately harmful to our nation, that mine was part of an influence that resulted in untold suffering of our own people.”(123) He goes on to say, “I am not afraid to admit I was mistaken.”(124) 

            Ono is not some vigilante wishing for the days of the old empire. Instead I think he is man who doesn’t want the younger generation to jump to conclusions. He is willing to admit his mistakes. Now he is faced with two choices. Either he can move on with the new paradigm in post WWII Japan. Or he can hold out and live in his memories, remembering the days of a strong Japanese Empire.

            Will Ono move with the times? Or will he be left stewing in his memories? Some would say that older generations can never fully accept a paradigm shift. To quote Marx Planck the German physicist, “a new truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it." This comes off as very pessimistic. However, history has shown that some cannot move with the times. Only the passage of time can bring about total acceptance of a new idea or truth. Hopefully Ono makes the right decision.