PARA•DIGM

('pær ə'daim)

noun

1. a set of forms all of which contain a particular element, esp. the set
of all inflected forms based on a single stem or theme.

2. A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes
a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them,
especially in an intellectual discipline.

"...an entire constellation of beliefs, values and techniques, and so on, shared by the members of a given community."

Thomas S. Kuhn - The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. 1962