The cumulative character of scientific knowledge is never questioned in the dominant paradigm

Evidence

This is as much as to say that the hypothesis is banal. But only to the extent that it fails to challenge the general paradigm of progress in science and technology, to which economic growth and the expansion of sociopolitical power seem to be natural complements. That scientific and technical knowledge is cumulative is never questioned. At most, what is debated is the form that accumulation takes—some picture it as regular, continuous, and unanimous, others as periodic, discontinuous, and conflictual. — Jean-François Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition, 123

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Knowledge grows by selective rearrangement within a research consensus, not accumulation — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 448; Intellectual paradigm shifts never completely break from prior positions.; Narrative and scientific knowledge are incommensurable language games with no common criterion — Jean-François Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition: A Report on…, 232

Broader Connections

• Knowledge grows by selective rearrangement within a research consensus, not accumulation #contradicts (0.90) — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 448
• Intellectual paradigm shifts never completely break from prior positions. #qualifies (0.80)