Epistemic Elements - Theories Methods and Questions (Rawleigh-2018)
An attempt to answer the question of Epistemic Elements which states "The three classes of elements that can undergo scientific change are theories, methods, and questions."
Epistemic Elements - Theories Methods and Questions was formulated by William Rawleigh in 2018.1 It is currently accepted by Scientonomy community as the best available theory on the subject.
Contents
History
Acceptance Record
Community | Accepted From | Acceptance Indicators | Still Accepted | Accepted Until | Rejection Indicators |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Scientonomy | 26 September 2018 | The ontology became accepted as a result of the acceptance of the respective suggested modification. | Yes |
Suggestions To Accept
Modification | Community | Date Suggested | Summary | Verdict | Verdict Rationale | Date Assessed |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sciento-2018-0002 | Scientonomy | 12 May 2018 | Accept the ontology of epistemic elements with theories, methods, and questions as distinct epistemic elements. | Accepted | Following several focused discussions - both in-person and on the discussion page of this modification - it was finally decided that the modification is to be accepted. Three important clarifications were made. First, it was noted that Rawleigh only shows that questions cannot be reduced either to methods or to theories, but it is still conceivable "that questions may be functions of both theories and methods simultaneously".c1 Second, it was decided that accepting the modification is still warranted, since currently we don't have any idea how questions could be reduced to a conjunction of theories and methods.c2 Third, it was decided that the question of the Status of Questions is to be left open. Scientonomists are actively encouraged to pursue the question of possibility of reducing questions to a conjunction of theories and methods.c3 | 26 September 2018 |
Suggestions To Reject
Modification | Community | Date Suggested | Summary | Verdict | Verdict Rationale | Date Assessed |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sciento-2018-0006 | Scientonomy | 8 October 2018 | Accept the new ontology of epistemic elements with, theories and questions are the two basic epistemic elements where and each theory is an attempt to answer a certain question, theories can be of three types – descriptive, normative, or definitions, and methods are a subtype of normative theory. | Open |
Question Answered
Epistemic Elements - Theories Methods and Questions (Rawleigh-2018) is an attempt to answer the following question: What are the fundamental epistemic elements that undergo scientific change?
See Epistemic Elements for more details.
Description
This formulation expands the ontology proposed by Sebastien by introducing questions as a separate epistemic element not reducible to either theories or methods. Thus, theories, methods, and questions are the three basic elements that undergo scientific change.
The addition of questions to the ontology of epistemic elements is intended to bring the accepted ontology of epistemic elements more closely in line with a) actual scientific practice, in which questions seem to be distinct elements, and b) the ontology implicit in the Encyclopedia of Scientonomy. The ontology implicit in the Encyclopedia of Scientonomy is arranged such that every theory is associated with a topic, which the theory is meant to answer. The addition of questions to the ontology of epistemic elements allows the integration of topics into our theoretical ontology, which is not presently equipped to do so.
References
- ^ ↑ Rawleigh, William. (2018) The Status of Questions in the Ontology of Scientific Change. Scientonomy 2, 1-12. Retrieved from https://scientojournal.com/index.php/scientonomy/article/view/29651.
Contributors
William Rawleigh (50.7%), Hakob Barseghyan (49.3%)