Paradigm Shifts During the Global Middle Ages and Renaissance

Edited by Albrecht Classen

Book cover: Paradigm Shifts During the Global Middle Ages and Renaissance

Extent: 396 pages

Publisher: Brepols Publishers

Subjects: Early Modern & Renaissance Studies, Medieval Studies

Series: Arizona Studies in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

Series volume number: 44

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(June 2019)

ISBN: 9782503583044

Price: $150.00

Out of stock

This volume explores how we have to conceptualize epochs, epistemes, and paradigm shifts pertaining to the Middle Ages and the early modern period.


For a long time we have naively talked about the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and other periods, but at closer analysis all those terms prove to be constructed models to help us understand in rough terms profound changes that affected human conditions throughout time. As the contributions to the present volume indicate, paradigm shifts have occurred regularly and constituted some of the critical developments in human existence. The notion of paradigm shift as first developed by Thomas Kuhn is here considerably expanded to address also literary, religious, scientific, and cultural-historical phenomena, to deal with contrasting conceptions of various parts of the world (China versus Europe), conflicts between genders, economic changes pertaining to women’s roles, social and political criticism, models of how to explain our existence, ideological positions and epistemological approaches. The study of paradigm shifts makes it possible to grasp fundamental movements both horizontally (the present world in global terms) and vertically (from the past to the present), exposing thereby central forces leading to shifts in power structures and in the mental-historical world-views. Focusing on paradigm-shifts allows us to gain deep insight into conflicting discourses throughout time and to illuminate the struggle between dominant and competing models explaining or determining reality.

  • Edited by Albrecht Classen