Epistemic Stances Towards Theories

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

Clarifying the list of possible epistemic stances that can be taken towards a theory is one of the tasks of scientonomic ontology. Importantly, an answer to this question should specify all the epistemic stances that can be taken towards theories of all types; if a stance can be taken only towards a specific subtype of theory, that stance shouldn't be included in the answer to this question. Similarly, this list of stances should not include the more general stances that can be taken towards epistemic elements of all types, but only those that can be taken towards theories.

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.

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

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

Broader History

In the historical literature, many different words have been used to describe the attitudes a scientific community can take towards a theory, generally without any attempt to clarify their respective meanings. Thomas Kuhn, for instance, used a number of equally vague words, including universally received, embraced, acknowledged, and committed, to describe the status of a theory.1pp. 10-13 Larry Laudan and Stephen Wykstra were among the first who distinguished between the acceptance and the pursuit of a theory.2pp. 108-114 3p. 216 Hakob Barseghyan and Jamie Shaw have argued that a similar distinction was implicit in the work of Imre Lakatos, although Lakatos did not explicitly draw the distinction.4p. 33 5

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	1 January 2016	This is when the community accepted its first answers to this question, 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), which indicates that the question itself is legitimate.	Yes

All Theories

The following theories have attempted to answer this question:

Theory	Formulation	Formulated In
Epistemic Stances Towards Theories - Theory Acceptance (Barseghyan-2015)	The stance of theory acceptance can be taken towards a theory.	2015
Epistemic Stances Towards Theories - Theory Pursuit (Barseghyan-2015)	The stance of theory pursuit can be taken towards a theory.	2015
Epistemic Stances Towards Theories - Theory Use (Barseghyan-2015)	The stance of theory use can be taken towards a theory.	2015
Epistemic Stances Towards Theories - Scientificity (Sarwar-Fraser-2018)	The stance of scientificity can be taken towards a 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 Theories - Theory Pursuit (Barseghyan-2015)	1 January 2016
Scientonomy	Epistemic Stances Towards Theories - Theory Acceptance (Barseghyan-2015)	1 January 2016
Scientonomy	Epistemic Stances Towards Theories - Theory Use (Barseghyan-2015)	1 January 2016

Suggested Modifications

Here is a list of modifications concerning this topic:

Modification	Community	Date Suggested	Summary	Verdict	Verdict Rationale	Date Assessed
Sciento-2018-0013	Scientonomy	28 December 2018	Accept scientificity as a distinct epistemic stance that epistemic agents can take towards theories. Also accept several questions concerning the definition of scientificity and the applicability of scientificity to other epistemic elements, such as methods and questions, as legitimate topics of scientonomic inquiry.	Open

Current View

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

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.4pp. 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.4pp. 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.4pp. 30-40

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.6p. 70

Related Topics

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

• Epistemic Stances Towards Definitions
• Epistemic Stances Towards Descriptive Theories
• Epistemic Stances Towards Normative Theories
• Pursuit and Acceptance