Epistemic Stances Towards Normative Theories

What types of epistemic stances can be taken by epistemic agents towards normative theories?

Since epistemic stances can be taken towards normative theories, it is reasonable to ask what types of epistemic stances can be taken towards normative theories.

In the scientonomic context, this question was first formulated by Zoe Sebastien in 2016. The question is currently accepted as a legitimate topic for discussion by Scientonomy community.

In Scientonomy, the accepted answers to the question can be summarized as follows:

• The stance of norm employment can be taken towards a normative theory.
• The stance of compatibility can be taken towards an epistemic element.
• The stances of theory acceptance, theory pursuit and theory use can be taken towards a theory.

Scientonomic History

Acceptance Record

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	15 February 2017	The question was de facto accepted as a result of the acceptance of Modification:Sciento-2017-0002.	Yes

All Theories

The following theories have attempted to answer this question:

Theory	Formulation	Formulated In
Epistemic Stances Towards Normative Theories - Norm Employment (Barseghyan-2018)	The stance of norm employment can be taken towards a normative theory.	2018

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Accepted Theories

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

Community	Theory	Accepted From	Accepted Until
Scientonomy	Epistemic Stances Towards Normative Theories - Norm Employment (Barseghyan-2018)	1 September 2019

Suggested Modifications

Here is a list of modifications concerning this topic:

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.	Accepted	Following a series of off-line discussions, a consensus emerged concerning this modification: it was agreed that the modification is to be accepted.c1 It was mentioned that most of the elements of this new ontology "has already been accepted by the scientonomic community".c2 It was also stressed that "the consensus has been manifested on several occasions, including the first scientonomy conference in May 2019 in Toronto, where several of the presenters treated this new ontology as accepted."c3 The fact that the consensus concerning this modification has been achieved primarily off-line, i.e. outside of the discussion pages of this encyclopedia suggests that the scientonomic "workflow must have a way of accommodating these discussions".c4	1 September 2019

Current View

In Scientonomy, the accepted answers to the question are Epistemic Stances Towards Normative Theories - Norm Employment (Barseghyan-2018), Epistemic Stances Towards Epistemic Elements - Compatibility (Fraser-Sarwar-2018), Epistemic Stances Towards Theories - Theory Acceptance (Barseghyan-2015), Epistemic Stances Towards Theories - Theory Pursuit (Barseghyan-2015) and Epistemic Stances Towards Theories - Theory Use (Barseghyan-2015).

Epistemic Stances Towards Normative Theories - Norm Employment (Barseghyan-2018) states: "The stance of norm employment can be taken towards a normative theory."

In his "Redrafting the Ontology of Scientific Change", Barseghyan argued that since norms are a subtype of theory, all the epistemic stances that can in principle be taken by an epistemic agent towards theories of all types can also be taken towards norms. In addition to these more universal stances, norms can also be employed, i.e. they have the capacity of constituting the actual expectations of the epistemic agent. This applies to norms of all types.1

Epistemic Stances Towards Epistemic Elements

Epistemic Stances Towards Epistemic Elements - Compatibility (Fraser-Sarwar-2018) states: "The stance of compatibility can be taken towards an epistemic element."

Fraser and Sarwar argued that, as an epistemic stance, compatibility can be taken towards epistemic elements of all types.2p. 70

Epistemic Stances Towards Theories

Epistemic Stances Towards Theories - Theory Acceptance (Barseghyan-2015) states: "The stance of theory acceptance can be taken towards a theory."

According to Barseghyan, acceptance as an epistemic stance can be taken towards theories.3pp. 30-32

Epistemic Stances Towards Theories - Theory Pursuit (Barseghyan-2015) states: "The stance of theory pursuit can be taken towards a theory."

According to Barseghyan, the epistemic stance of pursuit can be taken towards theories, i.e. an epistemic agent can find a theory pursuitworthy.3pp. 30-40

Epistemic Stances Towards Theories - Theory Use (Barseghyan-2015) states: "The stance of theory use can be taken towards a theory."

According to Barseghyan, the epistemic stance of use can be taken towards theories, i.e. an epistemic agent can find a theory useful.3pp. 30-40

Related Topics

This question is a subquestion of Epistemic Stances Towards Theories. It has the following sub-topic(s):

• Epistemic Stances Towards Methods