Mechanism of Scientific Change

What is the actual mechanism of scientific change? How do changes in a scientific mosaic take place? What governs these changes?

Along with the question of the ontology of scientific change, this question is one of the two most general questions of scientonomy. It is safe to say that any general theory that attempts to explain changes in a certain domain normally has two major ingredients – an ontology of the entities and relations that populate the domain as well as some dynamics of how these entities and relations change over time. Scientonomy is no exception as it attempts to understand what sort of elements, agents, and stances, play part in the process of scientific change (ontology) and what the mechanism of these changes is (dynamics). Answering both of these questions is crucial for our understanding of the process of scientific change.

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. The Theory of Scientific Change is currently accepted by Scientonomy community as the best available theory on the subject. The Theory of Scientific Change states "The laws of scientific change govern the process of changes in a scientific mosaic, i.e. transitions from one theory to the next and one method to the next. The theory of scientific change explains many different aspects of the process such as theory acceptance and method employment, scientific inertia and compatibility, splitting and merging of scientific mosaics, scientific underdeterminism, changeability of scientific methods, role of sociocultural factors, and more."

Prehistory

TODO: Prehistory here

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 answer to this question, The Theory of Scientific Change, which indicates that the question itself is legitimate.	Yes

All Theories

The following theories have attempted to answer this question:

Theory	Formulation	Formulated In
The Theory of Scientific Change	The laws of scientific change govern the process of changes in a scientific mosaic, i.e. transitions from one theory to the next and one method to the next. The theory of scientific change explains many different aspects of the process such as theory acceptance and method employment, scientific inertia and compatibility, splitting and merging of scientific mosaics, scientific underdeterminism, changeability of scientific methods, role of sociocultural factors, and more.	2015

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Accepted Theories

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

Community	Theory	Accepted From	Accepted Until
Scientonomy	The Theory of Scientific Change	1 January 2016

Suggested Modifications

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

Current View

In Scientonomy community, the accepted theory on the subject is The Theory of Scientific Change. It states: "The laws of scientific change govern the process of changes in a scientific mosaic, i.e. transitions from one theory to the next and one method to the next. The theory of scientific change explains many different aspects of the process such as theory acceptance and method employment, scientific inertia and compatibility, splitting and merging of scientific mosaics, scientific underdeterminism, changeability of scientific methods, role of sociocultural factors, and more." ===What is the theory of scientific change?=== Read More

Open Questions

The following related topic(s) currently lack an accepted answer:

• Mechanism of Question Acceptance: How do questions become accepted as legitimate topics of inquiry? What is the mechanism of question acceptance? The topic has no accepted answer in Scientonomy.
• Mechanism of Theory Pursuit: What is the mechanism of theory pursuit, if any? How do theories become pursued by communities? Is pursuit purely determined by sociocultural factors or is there an epistemic element to it as well? The topic has no accepted answer in Scientonomy.
• Methods Shaping Theory Construction: Do our employed methods and accepted demarcation criteria influence theory construction? The topic has no accepted answer in Scientonomy.
• Role of Ethics in Scientific Change: What role do ethical concerns play in scientific change? Are ethical norms capable of affecting employed methods? The topic has no accepted answer in Scientonomy.
• Role of Non-Social and Environmental Factors in Scientific Change: In addition to interactions between people in a community, what role do interactions between people and their natural, non-social environment have on the process of scientific change? The topic has no accepted answer in Scientonomy.
• Role of Practical Considerations in Scientific Change: What is the role of practical considerations such as financial constraints or limitations of manpower in the process of scientific change? The topic has no accepted answer in Scientonomy.
• The Status of Holism and Ripple Effect: is it the case that changes in one of the elements of a mosaic can have a "ripple effect" on the rest of the mosaic? The topic has no accepted answer in Scientonomy.

Related Topics

It has the following sub-topic(s):

• Changeability of the Scientific Mosaic
• Determinism vs. Underdeterminism in Scientific Change
• Mechanism of Compatibility
• Mechanism of Method Employment
• Mechanism of Method Rejection
• Mechanism of Mosaic Split
• Mechanism of Question Acceptance
• Mechanism of Scientific Inertia
• Mechanism of Theory Acceptance
• Mechanism of Theory Pursuit
• Mechanism of Theory Rejection
• Methods Shaping Theory Construction
• Necessary Elements
• Role of Ethics in Scientific Change
• Role of Methodology in Scientific Change
• Role of Non-Social and Environmental Factors in Scientific Change
• Role of Practical Considerations in Scientific Change
• Role of Sociocultural Factors in Scientific Change
• The Status of Holism and Ripple Effect

This topic is also related to the following topic(s):

• Ontology of Scientific Change

Contributors

Jacob MacKinnon (15.7%), Paul Patton (18.2%), Hakob Barseghyan (66.1%)