Reconstructing Root. An argument for objectivity.

The characteristics of scientific progress have been studied extensively in an effort to aid diverse disciplines to interpret their history and contemporary status and to facilitate development. One interpretation of the application of Kuhn's theories to contemporary podiatric biomechanics is that, because of accumulating anomalies, the Root model should be rejected in favor of an emergent model. The approach of Lakatos promotes the objective analysis of individual anomalies within the Root model as absolute indicators of unsuitability. Certain aspects of emergent approaches may enhance the existing program rather than threaten it. Providing explanations potentially reconciling original theory with recent experimental findings may do this. Adopting this approach may suggest at least that current theory remains to be shaped into the normal science phase by objectively integrating relevant aspects of emergent approaches with existing theory.