In both cases, “crisis” is linked to the idea – the ideal, even – of progress. The progressive shift from Newtonian to Einsteinian paradigms in 20th-century physics most neatly illustrates his thinking. Kuhn views progress in modern research as driven by crises within existing scientific paradigms. “Crisis” is similarly defined in American philosopher Thomas Kuhn’s approach to the history of science. These crises in turn foster opportunities for cultural, social and political innovation, the best 20th-century example of which is the creation of the welfare state.
In struggling to tame its forces of production, labour and machinery, Marx contends, this system causes crises of overproduction: an excess of supply that cannot be met with an equivalent demand. This can be seen in Karl Marx’s description of capitalism as a crisis-ridden economic system. Its meaning changes radically, to refer to a contradiction between opposing forces that accelerates the transition of past into future. However, as philosopher of history Reinhart Koselleck has shown, in modern philosophy, that ancient Greek notion of crisis undergoes a semantic shift. This definition stems from the ancient Greek term κρίσις or krisis, which describes a medical or political moment of opportunity that bifurcates into life or death, victory or defeat. Philosophers have long defined a crisis as a situation that forces an individual or group to a moment of thoughtful critique – to a point where a new path is mapped out in relation to some issue of pressing concern. However, digging into the philosophical roots of the word reveals that a crisis is not necessarily awful, but may, in the long term, prove a necessary and beneficial corrective. This represents a shift from the way the notion of crisis has been defined until now.