Epistemic Action (Allen-2023)

This is a definition of Epistemic Action that states "An action of an epistemic agent that involves an epistemic element."

This definition of Epistemic Action was formulated by Joshua Allen in 2023.1

Scientonomic History

Acceptance Record

This definition has never been accepted.

Suggestions To Accept

Here are all the modifications where the acceptance of this definition has been suggested:

Modification	Community	Date Suggested	Summary	Verdict	Verdict Rationale	Date Assessed
Sciento-2023-0005	Scientonomy	31 December 2023	Accept the definition of epistemic action as an action of an epistemic agent that involves an epistemic element.	Open

Question Answered

Epistemic Action (Allen-2023) is an attempt to answer the following question: What is epistemic action? How should it be defined?

See Epistemic Action for more details.

Description

Joshua Allen makes a case for this broad definition of the term. According to Allen:1pp. 75-76

the broader the definition, the more likely it is to account for all epistemic practices conducted throughout history and across all geographies. Any narrowing of the definition risks excluding epistemically relevant practices that we may have simply failed to consider. The above broad framing, therefore, allows for the best chance at covering all actions that one would normally consider epistemic. It is agnostic towards the precise characteristics that may accompany an epistemic action, beyond what could reasonably be assumed to be the bare minimum, an epistemic agent taking an action that somehow involves an epistemic element. This definition has the additional benefit of aligning well with other sister categories in the scientonomic ontology. An epistemic stance, for instance, is understood in scientonomy to refer to the attitude of an epistemic agent towards an epistemic element. Having such similarly phrased definitions across basic notions in scientonomy brings a sense of symmetry to the ontology.

Allen makes a case that if we were to go with a narrower definition, we would risk excluding such potentially relevant actions as publishing:1p. 77

The act of publishing a textbook does not seem directly to involve an intent to generate or assess epistemic elements. Similarly, while one would be hard-pressed not to view the spreading of knowledge as epistemically relevant, it could be difficult to confirm that an intent to generate or assess epistemic elements is involved. In both of these cases, it is not obvious how they could qualify as epistemic actions under the narrow definition, as they are not necessarily aiming to generate or assess epistemic elements. Yet, actions of publishing textbooks or spreading knowledge more generally could easily be epistemically relevant without being accompanied by such an intent, by way of their place within a broader tapestry of specific scientific practices.

Reasons

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Questions About This Definition

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