Cognitive science can provide the tools for examining and understanding conceptual development in scientists.
Science develops nonalgorithmically and nonlinearly.
Scientists in different paradigms use different ontological representations. The positivists attempted to conceive of science as a purely formal process. They were reacting to the revolution in physics that replaced Newtonian mechanics with relativistic quantum mechanics. They attributed the failure of Newtonian mechanics to the infiltration of sloppy language, which allowed physicists to use terms that were only poorly defined. In their view, these sloppy terms allowed physicists to deceive themselves into thinking that they understood terms when actually the terms did not mean anything.