Associations of Discipline

How is the class of discipline associated with other classes (and itself)? What aggregation, composition, or other association relations can exist between disciplines, as well as between a discipline and instances of other classes?

In the scientonomic context, this question was first formulated by Hakob Barseghyan in 2016. The question is currently accepted as a legitimate topic for discussion by Scientonomy community. The following associations of Discipline are currently accepted in Scientonomy:

• A discipline can have any number of theories. Each theory can be included into any number disciplines.
  
• A discipline has at least one core question.
  
• A discipline has one delineating theory.
  
• A discipline has at least one question. Each question can be included in any number disciplines.
  

Scientonomic History

Acceptance Record of the Question

Here is the complete acceptance record of this question (it includes all the instances when the question was accepted as a legitimate topic for discussion by a community):

Community	Accepted From	Acceptance Indicators	Still Accepted	Accepted Until	Rejection Indicators
Scientonomy	1 April 2016	The question of Associations of Discipline became accepted by virtue of the acceptance of Discipline. It was acknowledged as an open question by the Scientonomy Seminar 2016.	Yes

All Direct Answers

The following answers have been added to this encyclopedia:

Theory	Formulation	Formulated In
Discipline Has Delineating Theory (Patton-Al-Zayadi-2021)	A discipline has one delineating theory.	2021
Discipline Has Questions (Patton-Al-Zayadi-2021)	A discipline has at least one question. Each question can be included in any number disciplines.	2021
Discipline Can Have Theories (Patton-Al-Zayadi-2021)	A discipline can have any number of theories. Each theory can be included into any number disciplines.	2021
Discipline Has Core Questions (Patton-Al-Zayadi-2021)	A discipline has at least one core question.	2021

If a theory concerning the associations of a discipline is missing, please click here to add it.

Accepted Direct Answers

The following theories have been accepted as direct answers to this question:

Community	Theory	Formulation	Accepted From	Accepted Until
Scientonomy	Discipline Can Have Theories (Patton-Al-Zayadi-2021)	A discipline can have any number of theories. Each theory can be included into any number disciplines.	21 February 2024
Scientonomy	Discipline Has Core Questions (Patton-Al-Zayadi-2021)	A discipline has at least one core question.	21 February 2024
Scientonomy	Discipline Has Delineating Theory (Patton-Al-Zayadi-2021)	A discipline has one delineating theory.	21 February 2024
Scientonomy	Discipline Has Questions (Patton-Al-Zayadi-2021)	A discipline has at least one question. Each question can be included in any number disciplines.	21 February 2024

Suggested Modifications

Here is a list of modifications concerning this topic:

Modification	Community	Date Suggested	Summary	Date Assessed	Verdict	Verdict Rationale
Sciento-2021-0006	Scientonomy	1 August 2021	Accept new definitions of subquestion, core question, core theory, discipline, delineating theory, subdiscipline, and discipline acceptance.	21 February 2024	Accepted	Prior to the 2024 workshop, Hakob Barseghyan commented on the encyclopedia indicating his support for accepting this modification and noted its potential to underpin further work on discipline dynamics. In fact, a significant amount of observational scientonomy work has been carried out in the past few years (including the paper on the rejection of alchemy by Friesen and Patton (2023),1 as well as some more recent papers) that presupposes the acceptance of these definitions, despite the fact that the modification containing them formally remains open. There was very little discussion about the modification, beyond raising points for the community to look forward to in the future, like a brief discussion between Jamie Shaw and Paul Patton about the need for more research on the difference between disciplines and disciplinary communities. The modification was accepted unanimously with 18 votes.

Current View

In Scientonomy, the following associations of Discipline are currently accepted:

• A discipline can have any number of theories. Each theory can be included into any number disciplines.
  
• A discipline has at least one core question.
  
• A discipline has one delineating theory.
  
• A discipline has at least one question. Each question can be included in any number disciplines.
  

Discipline Has Core Questions (Patton-Al-Zayadi-2021) states: "A discipline has at least one core question."

According to Patton and Al-Zayadi, a discipline is characterized by its core questions. This implies that each discipline has at least one core question. They also clarify that a question can be a core question of more than one discipline.2

Discipline Has Delineating Theory (Patton-Al-Zayadi-2021) states: "A discipline has one delineating theory."

According to Patton and Al-Zayadi, each discipline is characterized by a delineating theory - a second-order theory that identifies the core questions of the discipline.2

Discipline Has Questions (Patton-Al-Zayadi-2021) states: "A discipline has at least one question. Each question can be included in any number disciplines."

According to Patton and Al-Zayadi, a discipline involves at least one question, while each question can be within the scope of any number of disciplines.2

Discipline Can Have Theories (Patton-Al-Zayadi-2021) states: "A discipline can have any number of theories. Each theory can be included into any number disciplines."

According to Patton and Al-Zayadi, a discipline can have any number of theories that attempt to answer the questions of the discipline, while each theory can be part of any number of disciplines.2