Difference between revisions of "List of Open Questions"

Latest revision as of 14:41, 24 March 2017

Here all the open questions accepted by the community:

Topic	Topic Type	Question	Formulated Year
Acceptance Criteria	Definitional	What is acceptance criteria? How should it be defined?	2015
Accidental Group	Definitional	What is accidental group? How should it be defined?	2016
Assessment of Scientonomy - Relevant Facts	Normative	What classes of facts ought we to take into account when assessing a scientonomic theory?	2015
Associations of Community	Descriptive	How is the class of community associated with other classes (and itself)? What aggregation, composition, or other association relations can exist between communities, as well as between a community and instances of other classes?	2016
Associations of Question	Descriptive	How is the class of question associated with other classes (and itself)? What aggregation, composition, or other association relations can exist between questions, as well as between a question and instances of other classes?	2018
Associations of Theory	Descriptive	How is the class of theory associated with other classes (and itself)? What aggregation, composition, or other association relations can exist between theories, as well as between a theory and instances of other classes?	2015
Authority Delegation	Definitional	What is authority delegation? How should it be defined?	2016
Changeability of the Scientific Mosaic	Descriptive	Under what circumstances does scientific change become impossible?	2015
Community	Definitional	What is community? How should it be defined?	2016
Compatibility	Definitional	What is compatibility? How should it be defined?	2018
Compatibility Criteria	Definitional	What is compatibility criteria? How should it be defined?	2015
Compatibility of Mosaic Elements	Descriptive	Are all elements within a mosaic compatible with one another?	2018
Definition	Definitional	What is definition? How should it be defined?	2018
Demarcation Criteria	Definitional	What is demarcation criteria? How should it be defined?	2015
Descriptive Theory	Definitional	What is descriptive theory? How should it be defined?	2015
Determinism vs. Underdeterminism in Scientific Change	Descriptive	Is the process of scientific change a strictly deterministic process? Will two unconnected communities experience a similar historical series of changes in their individual mosaics?	2015
Epistemic Agent	Definitional	What is epistemic agent? How should it be defined?	2018
Epistemic Presupposition	Definitional	What is epistemic presupposition? How should it be defined?	2019
Epistemic Stances Towards Epistemic Elements	Descriptive	What types of epistemic stances can be taken by epistemic agents towards epistemic elements?	2015
Epistemic Stances Towards Normative Theories	Descriptive	What types of epistemic stances can be taken by epistemic agents towards normative theories?	2016
Epistemic Stances Towards Questions	Descriptive	What types of epistemic stances can be taken by epistemic agents towards questions?	2018
Epistemic Stances Towards Theories	Descriptive	What types of epistemic stances can be taken by epistemic agents towards theories?	2015
Error	Definitional	What is error? How should it be defined?	2019
Existence of Community	Descriptive	Does a community exist?	2016
Existence of Definition	Descriptive	Does a definition exist?	2018
Existence of Descriptive Theory	Descriptive	Does a descriptive theory exist?	2015
Existence of Epistemic Agent	Descriptive	Does an epistemic agent exist?	2018
Existence of Epistemic Community	Descriptive	Does an epistemic community exist?	2016
Existence of Epistemic Element	Descriptive	Does an epistemic element exist?	2015
Existence of Epistemic Presupposition	Descriptive	Does an epistemic presupposition exist?	2019
Existence of Epistemic Stance	Descriptive	Does an epistemic stance exist?	2015
Existence of Individual Epistemic Agent	Descriptive	Does an individual epistemic agent exist?	2019
Existence of Logical Presupposition	Descriptive	Does a logical presupposition exist?	2021
Existence of Normative Theory	Descriptive	Does a normative theory exist?	2015
Existence of Question	Descriptive	Does a question exist?	2018
Existence of Question Acceptance	Descriptive	Does question acceptance exist?	2018
Existence of Theory	Descriptive	Does a theory exist?	2015
Existence of Theory Acceptance	Descriptive	Does theory acceptance exist?	2015
Explicable-Implicit	Definitional	What is explicable-implicit knowledge? How should it be defined?	2018
Explicit	Definitional	What is explicit knowledge? How should it be defined?	2018
Group	Definitional	What is group? How should it be defined?	2016
Hierarchical Authority Delegation	Definitional	What is hierarchical authority delegation? How should it be defined?	2017
History of Scientific Change	Definitional	What is history of scientific change? How should it be defined?	2015
Implicit	Definitional	What is implicit knowledge? How should it be defined?	2018
Indicators of Method Employment	Normative	What kind of historical markers could be taken as indicators that a method was employed by an agent at a given time?	2015
Indicators of Theory Acceptance	Normative	What types of historical markers can be taken as indicative that a theory was accepted by an agent at a given time?	2015
Individual Level	Definitional	What is individual level? How should it be defined?	2015
Inexplicable	Definitional	What is inexplicable knowledge? How should it be defined?	2018
Logical Presupposition	Definitional	What is logical presupposition? How should it be defined?	2021
Mechanism of Compatibility	Descriptive	Under what conditions can two elements coexist in the same mosaic?	2015
Mechanism of Error Rejection	Descriptive	When epistemic agent discover that a theory was accepted erroneously, they often reject the theory; the theory rejection theorem suggests that those propositions are replaced by something. What are they replaced by?	2018
Mechanism of Method Employment	Descriptive	How do methods become employed by an epistemic agent?	2015
Mechanism of Method Rejection	Descriptive	When does an employed method become rejected?	2016
Mechanism of Mosaic Split	Descriptive	What happens to a mosaic when two or more similar theories are considered equally acceptable by a scientific community? Under what conditions does a mosaic split occur? What happens to a mosaic when it is transformed into two or more mosaics?	2015
Mechanism of Scientific Inertia for Epistemic Elements	Descriptive	What makes the epistemic elements of an agent's mosaic continue to remain in the mosaic?	2015
Mechanism of Scientific Inertia for Methods	Descriptive	What makes the methods of an agent's mosaic continue to remain in the mosaic?	2015
Mechanism of Scientific Inertia for Theories	Descriptive	What makes the theories of an agent's mosaic continue to remain in the mosaic?	2015
Mechanism of Theory Acceptance	Descriptive	How do theories become accepted into a mosaic?	2015
Mechanism of Theory Rejection	Descriptive		2015
Method	Definitional	What is method? How should it be defined?	2015
Methodology	Definitional	What is methodology? How should it be defined?	2015
Mosaic Merge	Definitional	What is mosaic merge? How should it be defined?	2015
Mosaic Split	Definitional	What is mosaic split? How should it be defined?	2015
Multiple Authority Delegation	Definitional	What is multiple authority delegation? How should it be defined?	2017
Mutual Authority Delegation	Definitional	What is mutual authority delegation? How should it be defined?	2016
Nature of Appraisal	Descriptive		2015
Necessary Methods	Descriptive	Are there methods that are necessarily part of any mosaic? What methods, if any, are necessary for the process of scientific change to occur?	2015
Non-Hierarchical Authority Delegation	Definitional	What is non-hierarchical authority delegation? How should it be defined?	2017
Norm Employment	Definitional	What is norm employment? How should it be defined?	2018
Normative Theory	Definitional	What is normative theory? How should it be defined?	2015
One-sided Authority Delegation	Definitional	What is one-sided authority delegation? How should it be defined?	2016
Outcome Inconclusive	Definitional	How should the theory assessment outcome inconclusive be defined?	2015
Outcome Not Satisfied	Definitional	How should the theory assessment outcome not satisfied be defined?	2017
Outcome Satisfied	Definitional	How should the theory assessment outcome satisfied be defined?	2017
Possibility of Scientonomy	Descriptive	How is scientonomy possible?	2015
Possibility of Scientonomy - Argument from Bad Track Record	Descriptive	How is scientonomy possible given the bad track record of previous attempts to create a general theory of scientific change?	2015
Possibility of Scientonomy - Argument from Changeability of Scientific Method	Descriptive	How can there be scientonomy if the methods of science are changeable?	2015
Possibility of Scientonomy - The Argument from Nothing Permanent	Descriptive	How can scientonomy be possible if there are no permanent features of science?	2015
Possibility of Scientonomy - The Argument from Social Construction	Descriptive	How is scientonomy possible if science is a social construction?	2015
Procedural Method	Definitional	What is procedural method? How should it be defined?	2015
Pursuit as Acceptance	Descriptive	Is the category of theory pursuit really distinct from that of theory acceptance?	2018
Question	Definitional	What is question? How should it be defined?	2018
Question Acceptance	Definitional	What does it mean to say that a question is accepted? How should question acceptance be defined?	2018
Role of Methodology in Scientific Change	Descriptive	What role do methodologies play in scientific change? Are methodologies capable of affecting employed methods?	2015
Role of Sociocultural Factors in Theory Acceptance	Descriptive	What is the role of sociocultural factors, such as economics or politics, in the process of theory acceptance?	2015
Scientific Change	Definitional	What is scientific change? How should it be defined?	2015
Scientific Mosaic	Definitional	What is scientific mosaic? How should it be defined?	2015
Scientonomic Workflow	Normative	How should changes in the accepted body of scientonomic knowledge be introduced? What are the steps and procedures of the scientonomic workflow?	2016
Scientonomy	Definitional	What is scientonomy? How should it be defined?	2016
Scope of Scientonomy - Acceptance Use and Pursuit	Normative	How ought a scientonomic theory deal with the various stances that a community might take towards a theory? Which stances towards a theory ought a scientonomic theory account for?	2015
Scope of Scientonomy - Construction and Appraisal	Normative	Ought the process of scientific change be viewed from the perspective of theory construction or that of theory appraisal?	2015
Scope of Scientonomy - Descriptive and Normative	Normative	Ought a scientonomic theory be descriptive or normative?	2015
Scope of Scientonomy - Explicit and Implicit	Normative	Ought a scientonomic theory account for only changes to explicit elements of the mosaic or must it also deal with changes in implicit elements that are not openly stated?	2015
Scope of Scientonomy - Individual and Social	Normative	Ought a scientonomic theory account for changes in the mosaics of individual scientists, the mosaics of communities, or both?	2015
Scope of Scientonomy - Time Fields and Scale	Normative	For changes in the mosaic of what time period ought a scientonomic theory account? For changes in which fields of inquiry ought it to account? Ought it deal only in grand changes, or should it account for minor changes as well?	2015
Singular Authority Delegation	Definitional	What is singular authority delegation? How should it be defined?	2017
Social Level	Definitional	What is social level? How should it be defined?	2015
Static vs. Dynamic Methods	Descriptive	Are there any methods which are immune to change?	2015
Status of Technological Knowledge	Descriptive	What is the status of technological knowledge in the scientific mosaic? Can technological knowledge be accepted into a mosaic?	2015
Substantive Method	Definitional	What is substantive method? How should it be defined?	2015
Subtypes of Epistemic Agent	Descriptive	What are the subtypes of an epistemic agent?	2018
Subtypes of Epistemic Element	Descriptive	What are the subtypes of an epistemic element?	2015
Subtypes of Epistemic Stance	Descriptive	What are the subtypes of an epistemic stance?	2015
Subtypes of Normative Theory	Descriptive	What are the subtypes of a normative theory?	2015
Subtypes of Theory	Descriptive	What are the subtypes of a theory?	2015
Supertypes of Compatibility	Descriptive	What are the supertypes of compatibility?	2018
Supertypes of Definition	Descriptive	What are the supertypes of a definition?	2018
Supertypes of Descriptive Theory	Descriptive	What are the supertypes of a descriptive theory?	2015
Supertypes of Epistemic Community	Descriptive	What are the supertypes of an epistemic community?	2016
Supertypes of Explicit	Descriptive	What are the supertypes of an explicit?	2018
Supertypes of Implicit	Descriptive	What are the supertypes of an implicit?	2018
Supertypes of Individual Epistemic Agent	Descriptive	What are the supertypes of an individual epistemic agent?	2019
Supertypes of Method	Descriptive	What are the supertypes of a method?	2015
Supertypes of Norm Employment	Descriptive	What are the supertypes of norm employment?	2018
Supertypes of Normative Theory	Descriptive	What are the supertypes of a normative theory?	2015
Supertypes of Question	Descriptive	What are the supertypes of a question?	2018
Supertypes of Question Acceptance	Descriptive	What are the supertypes of question acceptance?	2018
Supertypes of Theory	Descriptive	What are the supertypes of a theory?	2015
Supertypes of Theory Acceptance	Descriptive	What are the supertypes of theory acceptance?	2015
Supertypes of Theory Pursuit	Descriptive	What are the supertypes of a theory pursuit?	2015
Supertypes of Theory Use	Descriptive	What are the supertypes of theory use?	2015
Synchronism vs. Asynchronism of Method Employment	Descriptive	Which factors influence the process of method employment? Do new methods become accepted simultaneously with the acceptance of a theory?	2015
Synchronism vs. Asynchronism of Method Rejection	Descriptive	When a method is rejected, must it be the case that a theory has also been rejected?	2015
Tautological Status of The Law of Compatibility (Fraser-Sarwar-2018)	Descriptive	Is the law of compatibility suggested by Fraser and Sarwar in 2018 a tautology?	2018
Tautological Status of The Second Law (Barseghyan-2015)	Descriptive	Is Barseghyan's original second law a tautology?	2013
Tautological Status of The Second Law (Patton-Overgaard-Barseghyan-2017)	Descriptive	Is the second law suggested by Patton, Overgaard, and Barseghyan in 2017 a tautology?	2017
Tautological Status of The Zeroth Law (Harder-2015)	Descriptive	Is Harder's zeroth law a tautology?	2016
The Paradox of Normative Propositions	Descriptive	If methodologies are themselves theories that can be accepted by a community, then how can methods be deductive consequences of accepted theories, given that historically employed methods and accepted methodologies have often been inconsistent with one another?	2014
Theory	Definitional	What is theory? How should it be defined?	2015
Theory Acceptance	Definitional	What does it mean to say that a theory is accepted? How should theory acceptance be defined?	2015
Theory Assessment Outcomes	Descriptive	What outcomes can possibly obtain as a result of an assessment of a theory by a method? What is the complete list of theory assessment outcomes?	2015
Theory Pursuit	Definitional	What does it mean to say that a theory is pursued? How should theory pursuit be defined?	2015
Theory Use	Definitional	What does it mean to say that a theory is used? How should theory use be defined?	2015
Workflow - Goals of Peer Review	Normative	Should peer reviewers evaluate a submitted paper for the pursuitworthiness or acceptability of the content of the paper?	2019
Workflow - Handling Ripple Effects	Normative		2019
Workflow - Publishing Modification Comments	Normative	Should the discussions concerning a suggested modification be published? If so, when and how should they be published?	2019
Workflow - Reformulating Suggesting Modifications	Normative	Are the commentators of suggested modifications allowed to suggest reformulations of the original formulations?	2019

References

^ Barseghyan, Hakob. (2015) The Laws of Scientific Change. Springer.

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-== Seminar 2016 ==
+{{PrintCommunityOpenQuestions|community=Community:Scientonomy|intro=Here all the open questions accepted by the community:|default=There are no open questions accepted by the community.|link=all}}
-''TODO: These questions should be incorporated in their respective articles.''
-* It is a historical fact that methods and methodologies can be present in the same mosaic despite being inconsistent. This is not a problem for the TSC, since the Zeroth Law (reformulated as the Law of Compatibility) allows for inconsistent elements to exist in the same mosaic. However, a historical question remains as to how the compatibility criteria of a given mosaic allows of the co-existence of inconsistent methods and methodologies. How example, how is the hypothetico-deductive method compatible with an inductivist methodology?
-* Has our criteria of compatibility, which accepts inconsistencies, become vacuous or trivial? (Jennifer Whyte, 2016)
-* There is currently an open question regarding the status of technological knowledge in the mosaic, and whether they should be formulated as “accepted” or “useful” beliefs. (Sean Cohmer, 2015). In addition, we can ask how technological research tools relate to employed methods. Currently, according to the TSC, knowledge concerning technical tools takes the forms of accepted beliefs, of the kind “telescopes are useful tools for examining distant celestial bodies”. This in turn leads to the employment of telescopes as a method for examining celestial bodies. However, are there technological tools that are used independently of any method? (Paul Patton, 2016) One possibility might be the technique of brainstorming: we commonly use it as a research technique, but don’t seem to formulate it as a method. (Hakob Barseghyan, 2016)
-* What is the relationship between individuals and mosaics? Can an individual ever be considered the bearer of a mosaic? (Kevin Zheng, 2016) If so, then we are presented with two possibilities: either the definition of “community” is reformulated to allow for a community to be comprised of only one person, or the definition of “mosaic” should be changed to include the possibility that an individual can bear a mosaic. (Hakob Barseghyan, 2016)
-* How should we define the term “law” in the context of the TSC? Barseghyan loosely defines “law” as a regularity that applies to everything in a given ontology. However, this seems to differ from current usage of the term. For instance, Evolutionary Biology is not considered a law, and yet it does explain regularities in nature. Is this a problem? (Paul Patton, 2016)
-* If something like Evolutionary Biology has predictive power in virtue of explaining past regularities, does this imply that the TSC, which also explains past regularities, does or should as well? (Paul Patton, 2016)
-* Are there in fact philosophical communities, or is there always too much disagreement? Are these disagreements the result of acceptance criteria which are too strict, or too vague? The answer to this question would require historical analysis. (Jennifer Whyte, Hakob Barseghyan, 2016)
-* The TSC states that the choice of relevant facts is guided by our existing theories. Is it also the case that questions/problems in science become relevant because of existing theories? (Nick Overgaard, Hakob Barseghyan, 2016) Before we answer this question, it is important to note that a prior question exists concerning the status of questions/problems in the mosaic: are they separate entities, or can they be formulated as beliefs?
-* In what circumstances can the views of an individual scientist be indicative of the views of their community? For example, can a historical analysis of Giordano Bruno’s belief in heliocentricism and the opposition he received from other natural philosophers shed light on the geocentric beliefs of his community? (Jennifer Whyte, Jacob MacKinnon, Joshua Payne Smith, 2016)
-* Is it possible for a community to say that they do not accept a theory, but in reality they do? In other words, what is the status of ‘tacit knowledge’ in the TSC? Can we find historical cases of situations like this? (Jaqueline Sereda, 2016)
-* Can we apply the "accepted/used/pursued" distinction to methods? If so, this might help us in our analysis of how normative propositions (especially ethical propositions) affect method employment. For example, a method deemed unethical may not be used, but still accepted as being effective for theory assessment.
-* The Asynchronism of Method Employment theorem says that employment of methods is not always necessarily a result of the acceptance of new theories. But surely all methods (even concrete implementations of abstract requirements) are employed simultaneously with the acceptance of a descriptive proposition which states that that method is effective. Does this poses a challenge towards the Asynchronism of Method Employment theorem? (Mirka Loiselle, 2016)
-* The TSC currently states that the employment of a new concrete method cannot lead to the rejection of another employed method. However, it seems conceivable that method X might cease to be employed when a new method is employed which is thought to be more effective than X. Are there any examples of this happening in the history of science? (Mirka Loiselle, 2016)
-* Scientists often seem to rely on practical propositions when conduction research— e.g “when conducting an experiment, chose the cheapest technique capable of producing acceptable results”. What is the status of practical propositions like these in the mosaic? Are they normative theories, or a separate entity? How are they accepted into the mosaic, and how do they change through time? How do they affect other elements of the mosaic? Do they affect method employment? (Hakob Barseghyan, Paul Patton, 2016)
-* Currently, the existence of a mosaic split is the only way for us as historians of science to identify a case of inconclusive theory assessment. However, it is logically possible (given the Laws of Scientific Change) for the result of theory assessment to be inconclusive and yet the entire community chooses to accept the theory. In this case, no mosaic split would occur. Is it possible to identify these cases in our historical analysis? (Paul Patton, 2016)
-* Are there really instances of necessary theory acceptance, or is ever case of theory assessment inconclusive to a degree? If there are necessary cases, is it possible for us as historians to show decisively that a theory was necessarily accepted rather than accepted after an inconclusive assessment? We can ask the same question with regard to mosaic splits: are necessary splits theoretically possible, or are all mosaic splits the result of inconclusive assessment? And if they are possible, can we ever as historians detect them? (Paul Patton, 2016)
-* Given two geographically isolated communities with different sets of beliefs that then undergo change and end up with the same set of beliefs (without any inter-communication between the communities), do they become one community? (Jennifer Whyte, Hakob Barseghyan)

Difference between revisions of "List of Open Questions"

Latest revision as of 14:41, 24 March 2017

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