What Is The Difference Between "Paradigm" And "Dynamic"?

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SOURCE: BRITANNICA DICTIONARYENTRIES:
1) DYNAMIC
Part of Speech: Noun1 : the way that two or more people behave with each other because of a particular situation[singular]
  • the dynamic between a doctor and a patient
  • the teacher-student dynamic
[plural]
  • Group dynamics are important to consider.
  • The dynamics of this class are different from those of other classes.
2 [count] : something that causes change or growth in something else
  • Disease was a central dynamic in the decrease in population.
  • a study on famine and population dynamics

2) PARADIGM:

NOUN

1

[count] formal1 : a model or pattern for something that may be copied
  • Her recent book provides us with a new paradigm for modern biography.
2 : a theory or a group of ideas about how something should be done, made, or thought about
  • the Freudian paradigm of psychoanalysis
  • a new study that challenges the current evolutionary paradigm
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xbladefate25 What is the difference between "paradigm" and "dynamic"

It depends on which of those definitions you compare.

dynamic (1), for example, is like '(personal) interactions', and paradigm (2) is like '(scientific) theory'.

These are the two definitions that come to my mind when I see those words. I don't see much connection between them. They seem unrelated to me. I've done reading in the history of science, and that's where paradigm comes up a lot, so that word is more familiar to me than the noun dynamic.

CJ

Comments  

It hardly matters. They are both trendy and nebulous, and they stem from a misunderstanding of the original meanings of the words. The OED does not show the singular "dynamic" in the first meaning at all, and the first citation for "paradigm" in those meanings is from 1962, which I am relieved to learn. I thought it was just me, and I'd missed it. If you want to be taken seriously at the highest level, use some other words that actually mean something and say what you mean.

That said, most native English speakers would not have either word in their active vocabulary and would need to sit down and ponder the dictionaries just like you and I.

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 CalifJim's reply was promoted to an answer.
CalifJim I've done reading in the history of science,

Does it mean that you've been a lecturer when doing reading in the history of science?

anonymous
CalifJim I've done reading in the history of science,

Does it mean that you've been a lecturer when doing reading in the history of science?

No. I have come across the word 'paradigm' often in my own reading. Years ago I went through a time when I was interested in the history of science. Sometimes there were discussions of "paradigm shifts" throughout the centuries, as more discoveries were made.

CJ

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