Test

	Formulated Year	Authors List	Disjoint Group
Method Is a Subtype of Epistemic Element (Barseghyan-2015)	2015	Hakob Barseghyan	Main
Theory Is a Subtype of Epistemic Element (Barseghyan-2015)	2015	Hakob Barseghyan	Main
Question Is a Subtype of Epistemic Element (Rawleigh-2018)	2018	William Rawleigh	Main
Subtypes of Epistemic Element			Main
Explicit Is a Subtype of Epistemic Element (Mirkin-2018)	2018	Maxim Mirkin	explicitness
Implicit Is a Subtype of Epistemic Element (Mirkin-2018)	2018	Maxim Mirkin	explicitness
Subtypes of Epistemic Element			explicitness

	Formulated Year	Authors List	Subtype
Acceptance Criteria	2015	Hakob Barseghyan,
Accidental Group	2016	Nicholas Overgaard,
Anomalies	2018	Andy Jiao,
Assessment of Scientonomy - Relevant Facts	2015	Hakob Barseghyan,
Associations of Community	2016	Nicholas Overgaard
Associations of Question	2018	William Rawleigh
Associations of Theory	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Authority Delegation	2016	Mirka Loiselle, Nicholas Overgaard
Changeability of the Scientific Mosaic	2015	Hakob Barseghyan,
Community	2016	Nicholas Overgaard
Compatibility	2018	Ameer Sarwar, Patrick Fraser
Compatibility Criteria	2015	Hakob Barseghyan,
Compatibility of Mosaic Elements	2018	Patrick Fraser, Ameer Sarwar,
Conclusive Theory Assessment	2016	Paul Patton
Deducibility in Method Employment	2018	Calahan Janik-Jones, Patrick Fraser
Definition	2018	Hakob Barseghyan
Demarcation Criteria	2015	Hakob Barseghyan,
Descriptive Theory	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Determinism vs. Underdeterminism in Scientific Change	2015	Hakob Barseghyan,
Epistemic Agent	2018	Hakob Barseghyan
Epistemic Presupposition	2019	Hakob Barseghyan, Nichole Levesley
Epistemic Stances Towards Definitions	2018	Hakob Barseghyan
Epistemic Stances Towards Descriptive Theories	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Epistemic Stances Towards Epistemic Elements	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Epistemic Stances Towards Methods	2015
Epistemic Stances Towards Normative Theories	2016	Zoe Sebastien
Epistemic Stances Towards Questions	2018	William Rawleigh
Epistemic Stances Towards Theories	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Error	2019	Paul Patton, Sarah Machado-Marques
Existence of Community	2016	Nicholas Overgaard
Existence of Definition	2018	Hakob Barseghyan
Existence of Descriptive Theory	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Existence of Epistemic Agent	2018	Hakob Barseghyan
Existence of Epistemic Community	2016	Nicholas Overgaard
Existence of Epistemic Element	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Existence of Epistemic Presupposition	2019	Hakob Barseghyan, Nichole Levesley
Existence of Epistemic Stance	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Existence of Individual Epistemic Agent	2019	Paul Patton
Existence of Logical Presupposition	2021	Hakob Barseghyan, Nichole Levesley
Existence of Normative Theory	2015	Zoe Sebastien
Existence of Question	2018	William Rawleigh
Existence of Question Acceptance	2018	William Rawleigh
Existence of Theory	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Existence of Theory Acceptance	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Explicable-Implicit	2018	Maxim Mirkin, Hakob Barseghyan,
Explicit	2018	Maxim Mirkin, Hakob Barseghyan,
Group	2016	Nicholas Overgaard,
Hierarchical Authority Delegation	2017	Mirka Loiselle
History of Scientific Change	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Implementation vs. Employment of Methods	2017	Calahan Janik-Jones, Gregory Rupik,
Implicit	2018	Maxim Mirkin, Hakob Barseghyan,
Indicators of Inconclusiveness	2016	Paul Patton, Nicholas Overgaard,
Indicators of Method Employment	2015	Hakob Barseghyan,
Indicators of Theory Acceptance	2015	Hakob Barseghyan,
Individual Level	2015	Hakob Barseghyan,
Inexplicable	2018	Maxim Mirkin, Hakob Barseghyan,
Logical Presupposition	2021	Hakob Barseghyan, Nichole Levesley
Mechanism of Compatibility	2015	Hakob Barseghyan, Rory Harder
Mechanism of Error Rejection	2018	Maxim Mirkin, Sinan Karamehmetoglu,
Mechanism of Method Employment	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Mechanism of Method Rejection	2016	Hakob Barseghyan,
Mechanism of Mosaic Split	2015	Hakob Barseghyan,
Mechanism of Normative Theory Rejection	2023	Aayu Pandey
Mechanism of Scientific Inertia for Epistemic Elements	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Mechanism of Scientific Inertia for Methods	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Mechanism of Scientific Inertia for Normative Theories	2023	Aayu Pandey
Mechanism of Scientific Inertia for Theories	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Mechanism of Theory Acceptance	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Mechanism of Theory Rejection	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Method	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Methodology	2015	Hakob Barseghyan,
Methodology and Methods	2016	Mirka Loiselle,
Methods and Technical Research Tools	2016	Paul Patton,
Mosaic Merge	2015	Hakob Barseghyan,
Mosaic Split	2015	Hakob Barseghyan,
Multiple Authority Delegation	2017	Mirka Loiselle
Mutual Authority Delegation	2016	Mirka Loiselle, Nicholas Overgaard
Nature of Appraisal	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Necessary Methods	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Non-Hierarchical Authority Delegation	2017	Mirka Loiselle
Norm Employment	2018	Hakob Barseghyan
Normative Theory	2015	Zoe Sebastien
One-sided Authority Delegation	2016	Mirka Loiselle, Nicholas Overgaard
Outcome Inconclusive	2015	Hakob Barseghyan,
Outcome Not Satisfied	2017	Paul Patton, Nicholas Overgaard, Hakob Barseghyan,
Outcome Satisfied	2017	Paul Patton, Nicholas Overgaard, Hakob Barseghyan,
Possibility of Scientonomy	2015	Hakob Barseghyan,
Possibility of Scientonomy - Argument from Bad Track Record	2015	Hakob Barseghyan,
Possibility of Scientonomy - Argument from Changeability of Scientific Method	2015	Hakob Barseghyan,
Possibility of Scientonomy - Preconditions	2018	Sinan Karamehmetoglu,
Possibility of Scientonomy - The Argument from Nothing Permanent	2015	Hakob Barseghyan,
Possibility of Scientonomy - The Argument from Social Construction	2015	Hakob Barseghyan,
Procedural Method	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Pursuit and Acceptance	2018	Hakob Barseghyan,
Pursuit as Acceptance	2018	Calahan Janik-Jones,
Question	2018	William Rawleigh
Question Acceptance	2018	William Rawleigh
Role of Methodology in Scientific Change	2015	Hakob Barseghyan,
Role of Sociocultural Factors in Mosaic Split	2018	Hakob Barseghyan
Role of Sociocultural Factors in Theory Acceptance	2015	Hakob Barseghyan,
Role of Used Theories in Method Employment	2017	Markus Alliksaar, Nicholas Overgaard, Paul Patton, Jacob MacKinnon, Gregory Rupik,
Scientific Change	2015	Hakob Barseghyan,
Scientific Mosaic	2015	Hakob Barseghyan,
Scientonomic Workflow	2016	Hakob Barseghyan, Nicholas Overgaard, Paul Patton, Gregory Rupik,
Scientonomy	2016	Gregory Rupik, Hakob Barseghyan, Nicholas Overgaard, Paul Patton
Scope of Scientonomy - Acceptance Use and Pursuit	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Scope of Scientonomy - Construction and Appraisal	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Scope of Scientonomy - Descriptive and Normative	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Scope of Scientonomy - Explicit and Implicit	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Scope of Scientonomy - Individual and Social	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Scope of Scientonomy - Time Fields and Scale	2015	Hakob Barseghyan,
Scope of Scientonomy - Tracing Implicit and Explicit	2018	Hakob Barseghyan
Singular Authority Delegation	2017	Mirka Loiselle
Social Level	2015	Hakob Barseghyan,
Static vs. Dynamic Methods	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Status of Impossible Abstract Requirements	2018	Hakob Barseghyan, Charlotte Brown, Liron Cohen,
Status of Reasons	2018	Abdullah Sarwar, Hakob Barseghyan, Intishar Kazi
Status of Technological Knowledge	2015	Sean Cohmer,
Substantive Method	2015	Hakob Barseghyan,
Subtypes of Epistemic Agent	2018	Hakob Barseghyan
Subtypes of Epistemic Element	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Subtypes of Epistemic Stance	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Subtypes of Normative Theory	2015	Zoe Sebastien
Subtypes of Theory	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Supertypes of Compatibility	2018	Ameer Sarwar, Patrick Fraser
Supertypes of Definition	2018	Hakob Barseghyan
Supertypes of Descriptive Theory	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Supertypes of Epistemic Community	2016	Nicholas Overgaard
Supertypes of Explicit	2018	Maxim Mirkin, Hakob Barseghyan,
Supertypes of Implicit	2018	Maxim Mirkin, Hakob Barseghyan,
Supertypes of Individual Epistemic Agent	2019	Paul Patton
Supertypes of Method	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Supertypes of Norm Employment	2018	Hakob Barseghyan
Supertypes of Normative Theory	2015	Zoe Sebastien
Supertypes of Question	2018	William Rawleigh
Supertypes of Question Acceptance	2018	William Rawleigh
Supertypes of Theory	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Supertypes of Theory Acceptance	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Supertypes of Theory Pursuit	2015	Hakob Barseghyan,
Supertypes of Theory Use	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Synchronism vs. Asynchronism of Method Employment	2015	Hakob Barseghyan,
Synchronism vs. Asynchronism of Method Rejection	2015	Hakob Barseghyan,
Tautological Status of The Law of Compatibility (Fraser-Sarwar-2018)	2018	Ameer Sarwar, Patrick Fraser
Tautological Status of The Second Law (Barseghyan-2015)	2013	Rory Harder
Tautological Status of The Second Law (Patton-Overgaard-Barseghyan-2017)	2017	Hakob Barseghyan, Nicholas Overgaard, Paul Patton
Tautological Status of The Zeroth Law (Harder-2015)	2016	Jennifer Whyte
The Paradox of Normative Propositions	2014	Joel Burkholder
Theory	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Theory Acceptance	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Theory Assessment Outcomes	2015	Hakob Barseghyan,
Theory Displacement	2018	Charlotte Marcotte-Toale, Hakob Barseghyan, Paul Patton
Theory Pursuit	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Theory Use	2015	Hakob Barseghyan
Theory vs. Method Compatibility	2018	Christopher Kaumeyer, Hakob Barseghyan,
Workflow - Closure Mechanism	2019	Jamie Shaw, Hakob Barseghyan,
Workflow - Goals of Peer Review	2019	Jamie Shaw, Hakob Barseghyan,
Workflow - Handling Ripple Effects	2019	Paul Patton
Workflow - Publishing Modification Comments	2019	Jamie Shaw, Hakob Barseghyan,
Workflow - Reformulating Suggesting Modifications	2019	Jamie Shaw, Hakob Barseghyan,

Main,explicitness

	Community	Element	Disjoint Group ⠉
Question Is a Subtype of Epistemic Element (Rawleigh-2018)	Scientonomy	Question Is a Subtype of Epistemic Element (Rawleigh-2018)	Main
Theory Is a Subtype of Epistemic Element (Barseghyan-2015)	Scientonomy	Theory Is a Subtype of Epistemic Element (Barseghyan-2015)	Main
Explicit Is a Subtype of Epistemic Element (Mirkin-2018)	Scientonomy	Explicit Is a Subtype of Epistemic Element (Mirkin-2018)	explicitness
Implicit Is a Subtype of Epistemic Element (Mirkin-2018)	Scientonomy	Implicit Is a Subtype of Epistemic Element (Mirkin-2018)	explicitness

	Community	Term	Topic	Theory	Existence
Existence of Acceptance Criteria	Scientonomy	Acceptance Criteria	Existence of Acceptance Criteria
Existence of Authority Delegation	Scientonomy	Authority Delegation	Existence of Authority Delegation
Existence of Community	Scientonomy	Community	Existence of Community	Community Exists	Exists
Existence of Compatibility Criteria	Scientonomy	Compatibility Criteria	Existence of Compatibility Criteria
Existence of Compatibility	Scientonomy	Compatibility	Existence of Compatibility
Existence of Definition	Scientonomy	Definition	Existence of Definition	Definition Exists	Exists
Existence of Demarcation Criteria	Scientonomy	Demarcation Criteria	Existence of Demarcation Criteria
Existence of Descriptive Theory	Scientonomy	Descriptive Theory	Existence of Descriptive Theory	Descriptive Theory Exists	Exists
Existence of Discipline	Scientonomy	Discipline	Existence of Discipline
Existence of Epistemic Agent	Scientonomy	Epistemic Agent	Existence of Epistemic Agent	Epistemic Agent Exists	Exists
Existence of Epistemic Community	Scientonomy	Epistemic Community	Existence of Epistemic Community	Epistemic Community Exists	Exists
Existence of Epistemic Element	Scientonomy	Epistemic Element	Existence of Epistemic Element	Epistemic Element Exists	Exists
Existence of Epistemic Presupposition	Scientonomy	Epistemic Presupposition	Existence of Epistemic Presupposition	Epistemic Presupposition Exists	Exists
Existence of Epistemic Stance	Scientonomy	Epistemic Stance	Existence of Epistemic Stance	Epistemic Stance Exists	Exists
Existence of Individual Epistemic Agent	Scientonomy	Individual Epistemic Agent	Existence of Individual Epistemic Agent	Individual Epistemic Agent Exists	Exists
Existence of Logical Presupposition	Scientonomy	Logical Presupposition	Existence of Logical Presupposition	Logical Presupposition Exists	Exists
Existence of Method Hierarchy	Scientonomy	Method Hierarchy	Existence of Method Hierarchy
Existence of Method	Scientonomy	Method	Existence of Method
Existence of Model	Scientonomy	Model	Existence of Model
Existence of Mosaic Split	Scientonomy	Mosaic Split	Existence of Mosaic Split
Existence of Norm Employment	Scientonomy	Norm Employment	Existence of Norm Employment
Existence of Normative Theory	Scientonomy	Normative Theory	Existence of Normative Theory	Normative Theory Exists	Exists
Existence of Question Acceptance	Scientonomy	Question Acceptance	Existence of Question Acceptance	Question Acceptance Exists	Exists
Existence of Question	Scientonomy	Question	Existence of Question	Question Exists	Exists
Existence of Scientific Mosaic	Scientonomy	Scientific Mosaic	Existence of Scientific Mosaic
Existence of Theory Acceptance	Scientonomy	Theory Acceptance	Existence of Theory Acceptance	Theory Acceptance Exists	Exists
Existence of Theory Pursuit	Scientonomy	Theory Pursuit	Existence of Theory Pursuit
Existence of Theory Use	Scientonomy	Theory Use	Existence of Theory Use
Existence of Theory	Scientonomy	Theory	Existence of Theory	Theory Exists	Exists

Compatibility Criteria (Fraser-Sarwar-2018)

There are several options here: One, Two, Three and Four.

There is only one option: One There are no options.

Like demarcation and acceptance criteria, compatibility criteria can be part of an epistemic agent's employed method. An epistemic agent employs these criteria to determine whether two elements (e.g. methods, theories, questions) are mutually compatible or incompatible, i.e. whether they can be simultaneously part of the agent's mosaic. In principle, these criteria can be employed to determine the compatibility of elements present in the mosaic, as well as those outside of it (e.g. scientists often think about whether a proposed theory is compatible with the theories actually accepted at the time). Fraser and Sarwar point out that Barseghyan's original definition of the term "excludes a simple point that is assumed elsewhere in scientonomy: elements other than theories (i.e. methods and questions) may be compatible or incompatible with other elements (which, again, need not be theories)".p. 72 To fix this omission, Fraser and Sarwar "suggest that the word ‘theories’ be changed to ‘elements’ to account for the fact that the compatibility criteria apply to theories, methods, and questions alike".p. 72

Different communities can have different compatibility criteria. While some communities may opt to employ the logical law of noncontradiction as their criterion of compatibility, other communities may be more tolerant towards logical inconsistencies. According to Barseghyan, the fact that these days scientists "often simultaneously accept theories which strictly speaking logically contradict each other is a good indication that the actual criteria of compatibility employed by the scientific community might be quite different from the classical logical law of noncontradiction".p. 11 For example, this is apparent in the case of general relativity vs. quantum physics where both theories are accepted as the best available descriptions of their respective domains (i.e. they are considered compatible), but are known to be in conflict when applied simultaneously to such objects as black holes.

Hello world

This is a definition of Method that states "A set of criteria for theory evaluation."

This is an answer to the question Mechanism of Theory Acceptance that states "In order to become accepted into the mosaic, a theory is assessed by the method actually employed at the time."

Welcome to the Encyclopedia of Scientonomy

the clearing house for the scientonomic knowledge on the process of scientific change that aims at

• outlining the current state of our communal knowledge of the mechanism of scientific change;
• tracing all suggested modifications to our communal knowledge;
• documenting the open questions concerning the process of scientific change.

There are currently 3,552 pages in this encyclopedia.

Featured Article Mechanism of Method Employment How do methods become employed by an epistemic agent? In the scientonomic context, this question was first formulated by Hakob Barseghyan in 2015. The question is currently accepted as a legitimate topic for discussion by Scientonomy community. The Third Law (Sebastien-2016) is currently accepted by Scientonomy community as the best available answer to the question. At the moment, the question has no accepted answer in Scientonomy. Read More In the news 25 February 2023: Modification Sciento-2019-0007 was accepted. Prior to the 2023 workshop, Ameer Sarwar argued against the modification. First, he noted that voting is not an appropriate mechanism in science where the goal is to unearth truth.c1 Second, it is unclear how we can ensure informed voting given that some members of the community could be inactive for several years. He thus suggested that we should keep this modification open and wait until after the resolution of modifications 2019-0002 and 2019-0003 that suggest alternative ways to increase participation. During the workshop, the modification was generally well received. Before voting, there was some concern about our voting process – who can vote and when can they vote? – voiced by Josh Allen and Paul Patton. Additionally, Deivide Garcia and Amirali Atrli raised concerns about who are “allowed” to function as part of the scientonomy community. Patton also suggested introducing quorum in addition to the 2/3rds stipulation to avoid potential modifications to the scientonomic body of knowledge introduced by a small number of participants. Gregory Rupik along with Jamie Shaw indicated that while quorum makes perfect sense for larger decision-making bodies, our capacity to vote should not hinge on who is absent, but rather on who is present. It was also determined that even though there is always a risk of a small group of people making big changes, or with people being unsatisfied with a modification they were not allowed to vote on, the iterative nature of our process ensures that there are easy solutions here; in addition, as Spenser summarized, most people in academic environments can be trusted to self-police. Rupik also highlighted the need to formalize the acceptance mechanism in the encyclopedia explicitly: i.e. without 3 comments with unanimity, the modification will be discussed at a workshop, and it is possible that it will remain open after the workshop, in which case we will wait until the next workshop to further discuss and modify it. Notably, since this proposal represents an attempt to formalize a voting system and closure mechanism, and itself was not subject to a specific voting system, it was decided by those present that we would accept this modification with a minimum of 2/3rds assent. The modification was accepted with overwhelming support. Read More 25 February 2023: Modification Sciento-2019-0006 was accepted. The decision was made during the 2023 workshop. Hakob Barseghyan emphasized that this modification does not grant permission to alter the body of scientonomic knowledge but simply to ensure that the pages of the encyclopedia reflect the actual state of scientonomic knowledge and that the scientonomic knowledge is stored in the most appropriate manner. Among other things, this is to handle the so-called ripple effect. Barseghyan mentioned that, while working on the encyclopedia with Paul Patton and Izzy Friesen, they had discovered several instances of ripple effect that resulted from our human lack of omniscience (e.g. a theory was supposed to be listed under Theories to Accept of a modification but wasn’t; a theory was actually accepted by the community but there was no record of it in the encyclopedia, etc.). Hence, according to Barseghyan, it would make sense to grant the editors the necessary right to adjust the respective pages to handle its consequences. Deivide Garcia wondered how such very small modifications can be tracked. Barseghyan responded that the changes in question are not meant to concern the body of scientonomic knowledge (thus, these are not modifications in the standard scientonomic sense), but are only to ensure that the encyclopedia reflects the current state of scientonomic knowledge and organizes that knowledge efficiently. Kye Palider highlighted the issue of transparency: how will the community be notified about such changes? Barseghyan suggested that an annual housekeeping paper is to be published in the Scientonomy journal as a collective report on changes to the encyclopedia. The modification was accepted. Read More 25 February 2023: Modification Sciento-2019-0005 was not accepted. At the 2023 workshop, this modification was met with concerns from the community. Firstly, the question of the equitability of star ratings was highlighted by Rebecca Muscant and Izzy Friesen. Amirali Atrli also wondered whether the problem of incentives becomes further stretched out by the five-star scale. Kye Palider noted that the up-or-down arrow that we already have on our Wiki seems simpler and more democratic than star-ranking. Alessandra Castino also mentioned that on online forums, the basis of their rating systems can discourage new commenters, and that we might see this here too. Some rating systems are also better than others – it was suggested by Joshua Allen, for example, that StackExchange’s system could provide a good model, as it incentivizes participation. Friesen highlighted that larger forums where rating systems for commentary are popular include anonymity by default, which makes this kind of recognition important, but this is not so much of an issue in the scientonomy community. Palider suggested simply listing a user’s number of comments but, as Castino emphasized, such ratings might not reflect the quality of the comments. Jamie Shaw noted that this need not necessarily be an issue since all participation grades are almost inevitably subjective and don’t necessarily reflect the quality. Deivide Garcia suggested that more thoughts needs to be put into this before any of the suggestions could be implemented. Barseghyan agreed and noted that the mediawiki platform has limitations on what can be done here, so it is unclear which of the new suggestions could be possibly implemented. Ultimately, though, the modification was rejected. Read More

Recent Suggested Modifications (all) Sciento-2024-0003: Open Sanghoon Oh Accept that element decay is a non-scientonomic phenomenon. The modification is currently being evaluated; a verdict is pending. Read More Sciento-2024-0002: Open Sanghoon Oh Accept a list of necessary indicators of theory decay. The modification is currently being evaluated; a verdict is pending. Read More Sciento-2024-0001: Open Sanghoon Oh Accept that the phenomenon of element decay exists. The modification is currently being evaluated; a verdict is pending. Read More Recent Publications (check out the journal) Discipline Dynamics of Chymistry and Rejection of Alchemy Paul Patton and Izzy Friesen Abstract: This paper applies Patton and Al-Zayadi’s scientonomic framework for understanding disciplines to a case study of the development of the chemical discipline ("chymistry") from the 17th century through the early 18th century in Western Europe. Using evidence from the tradition of textbook publication that emerged in the seventeenth-century chymistry, we reconstruct the top-level of the question hierarchy of chymistry. Analyzing how these questions and their associated theories were received, we first show how, starting in the 1660s, alchemy transitioned from a synonym of chymistry to chymistry’s subdiscipline with a more limited scope. We identify that the rejection of alchemy's core questions occurred in the 1720s based on the reception of these questions in scientific publications and by academic institutions. Hence, we conclude that the subdiscipline of alchemy became rejected in the 1720s. In order to conduct our case-study, we closely follow Newman and Principe's research on early modern alchemy and chymistry in our reconstruction of the episode. However, using the scientonomic framework in analyzing this case study reveals the specific dynamics of this instance of sub-discipline rejection. Our deepened understanding of this hallmark historical episode of disciplinary rejection indicates the value of Patton and Al-Zayadi’s theoretical framework for observational scientonomic research. Read More Epistemic Actions: A Scientonomic Framework Joshua Allen Abstract: In a series of publications, Hasok Chang makes the case that activities carried out by epistemic agents form the basis of the scientific enterprise. This paper provides an action-based scientonomic perspective of scientific practice. I define epistemic action as an action of an epistemic agent that involves an epistemic element and highlight the difference between global and local actions. The availability of a local action to an epistemic agent amounts to the agent employing the norm that the local action is permissible/desirable. To unearth the mechanism by which local actions become available to epistemic agents, I derive the local action availability theorem, according to which, a local epistemic action becomes available to an agent only when its permissibility is derivable from a non-empty subset of other elements of the agent’s mosaic, i.e., from that agent’s employed norms and accepted theories. This framework is then applied to the emergence of the local action of determining the composition of chemical substances by weighing as practiced by Lavoisier and his followers; it is shown that the respective norm became employed in accord with the local action availability theorem. Read More Corpus Linguistics Strategies for Identifying Accepted Theories in Early Modern England G. G. Shan Abstract: The paper investigates the applicability of corpus linguistics to the construction of a database of intellectual history. Working with the Royal Society Corpus (RSC), it presents a series of corpus queries that can aid with computationally identifying potential instances of communal theory acceptance in England during the period of 1665-1800. These queries allowed to identify a set of noun-adjective pairs potentially synonymous with “accepted theory” and retrieve around 1,400 excerpts potentially indicative of instances of communal theory acceptance. The paper also discusses some strategies for identifying the epistemic agent, as well as the RSC’s place within the broader historical context. Finally, I argue that, in addition to exploring corpus linguistics strategies, methodologies for interpreting computationally retrieved data should also be developed. Read More

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