Deep Disagreement: Evidence of an Ideological Paradigm Shift

This thesis argues that deep disagreements are evidence of an ideological paradigm shift. In a paper on the topic, Jeroen de Ridder characterizes these types of disagreements as rationally irresolvable on the basis of competing epistemic and moral frameworks incurred through social identity. In this paper I seek to motivate my suspicion that deep disagreements may actually be an indicator of progress, rather than of irresolvable differences amongst knowers as Ridder argues. I argue that social identity is insufficient to understand the occurrence of deep disagreements and suggest that a better understanding of their occurrence can be found through ideology. I define ideology as the material enactment and justificatory content that upholds prevailing social structures and demonstrate how ideology produces social identity. In doing so, I draw a connection between ideology and deep disagreement, which still demands an additional layer of understanding. In exploring Thomas Kuhn’s account of Scientific Revolutions, I argue that ideologies and scientific paradigms can be understood as analogous in their operation, purpose, and structure. In establishing this similarity, I demonstrate that ideologies, like scientific paradigms can and do shift. Deep disagreements on the basis of social identities produced through ideology arise when ideologies are shifting and compared with one another.