Existence of Method Hierarchies

Do method hierarchies exist?

Cases from a variety of fields of inquiry seems to be suggesting the existence of method hierarchies, where criteria employed by an epistemic agent constitute a certain preference hierarchy. This raises a question: do these criteria indeed constitute a hierarchy? In other words, is it the case that epistemic agents are sometimes willing to relax their requirement and employ somewhat more lenient requirements when more stringent requirements cannot be met?

In the scientonomic context, this question was first formulated by Hakob Barseghyan and Mathew Mercuri in 2019. The question is currently accepted as a legitimate topic for discussion by Scientonomy community. At the moment, the question has no accepted answer in Scientonomy.

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	24 December 2019	The question became accepted with the publication of the paper by Mercuri & Barseghyan.	Yes

All Theories

The following theories have attempted to answer this question:

Theory	Formulation	Formulated In
Method Hierarchies Exist (Mercuri-Barseghyan-2019)	There are method hierarchies in the actual process of scientific change.	2019

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Accepted Theories

According to our records, no theory on this topic has ever been accepted.

Suggested Modifications

Here is a list of modifications concerning this topic:

Modification	Community	Date Suggested	Summary	Verdict	Verdict Rationale	Date Assessed
Sciento-2019-0013	Scientonomy	24 December 2019	Accept the existence of method hierarchies and the new definition of method hierarchy as a set of methods where theories that satisfy the requirements of methods that are higher in the hierarchy are preferred to theories that satisfy the requirements of methods that are lower in the hierarchy. Also accept the question of conceptualizing method hierarchies.	Open

Related Topics

This question is a subquestion of Ontology of Scientific Change.