Epistemic Element

What is epistemic element? How should it be defined?

In a framework that views the process of scientific change as a series of transitions in epistemic stances of epistemic agents towards epistemic elements it is important to have a clear notion of what an epistemic element is.

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. At the moment, the term has no accepted definition in Scientonomy.

Scientonomic History

The term has been explicitly in use since 2018; several articles published in the 2018 issue of Scientonomy explicitly make use of the term epistemic element and take it for granted that these are part of the process of scientific change.1234 Yet, the term has been tacitly accepted since the inception of the community, as indicated by the acceptance of an ontology of epistemic elements.

Acceptance Record

Here is the complete acceptance record of this term (it includes all the instances when the term was accepted as a part of a community's taxonomy):

Community	Accepted From	Acceptance Indicators	Still Accepted	Accepted Until	Rejection Indicators
Scientonomy	1 January 2016	The term epistemic element has been de facto accepted since the inception of the community, as indicated by the fact that there has been an accepted ontology of epistemic elements from the outset.	Yes

All Theories

According to our records, no definition of the term has been suggested.If a definition of this term is missing, please click here to add it.

Accepted Theories

According to our records, no definition of the term has ever been accepted.

Suggested Modifications

According to our records, there have been no suggested modifications on this term.

Current Definition

Although an explicit definition of the term is yet to be suggested, epistemic elements are roughly understood as those semantic entities towards which an epistemic agent can take an epistemic stance.

Ontology

Existence

In Scientonomy, it is currently accepted that "There is such a thing as an epistemic element."

Disjointness

In Scientonomy, no classes are currently accepted as disjoint with Epistemic Element.

Subtypes

In Scientonomy, the following subtypes of Epistemic Element are currently accepted:

• The main subtypes of Epistemic Element are Question and Theory.
• On the basis of explicitness, the subtypes of Epistemic Element are Explicit and Implicit.

Supertypes

In Scientonomy, there are currently no accepted supertypes of Epistemic Element.

Associations

In Scientonomy, there are currently no accepted associations of Epistemic Element.

Epistemic Stances Towards Epistemic Elements

In Scientonomy, the accepted answer to the question is "The stance of compatibility can be taken towards an epistemic element."

If a question concerning the ontology of an epistemic element is missing, please add it here.

Dynamics

Necessary Epistemic Elements

In Scientonomy, the accepted answer to the question is "In order for the process of scientific change to be possible, the mosaic must necessarily contain at least one employed method."

If a question concerning the dynamics of an epistemic element is missing, please add it here.