Fortunately, the actual picture has been less predictable--and more interesting. Newton's universe was deconstructed and reconstructed by Einstein; Einstein's picture of the universe, in turn, is being extended by black holes, pulsars, and cosmic strings.
Darwin's world has been deconstructed and reconstructed by the neo-Darwinists, but their authority is now being called into question by neutral evolution, the selfish gene, punctuated equilibria, saltation, and horizontal gene flow. The path to truth is beset by partial truths. Scientists must try to avoid entrapment by partial truths--to have their thinking circumscribed by current orthodoxies.
Why do scientists find it difficult to liberate their thinking from current orthodoxies? This question was examined most perceptively by Gunther Stent in a December 1972 article in Scientific American (227[6]:84-93) entitled "Prematurity and Uniqueness in Scientific Discovery." Citing a series of cases in which important scientific discoveries were initially ignored, only to be rediscovered later, Stent concludes ...
