Modification:Sciento-2021-0002

Accept the law of question acceptance as a new scientonomic axiom, the question rejection theorem, and a number of questions for future research.

The modification was suggested to Scientonomy community by Hakob Barseghyan and Nichole Levesley on 1 August 2021.1 The modification is currently being evaluated; a verdict is pending.

Preamble

The question of how questions come to be accepted by epistemic agents was first raised by Rawleigh in 2018. With questions accepted as one of the fundamental elements of the scientonomic ontology, it is necessary to provide an account of how questions are accepted and rejected by agents. This modification suggests that questions become accepted when all of their epistemic presuppositions are accepted and the question is taken to be answerable in principle. It also provides a question rejection theorem that is derived from the first law for questions and the compatibility corollary, and points to several questions for further research.

Modification

Theories To Accept

• The Law of Question Acceptance (Barseghyan-Levesley-2021): A question becomes accepted only if all of its epistemic presuppositions are accepted and it is accepted that the question is answerable.

• Question Rejection theorem (Barseghyan-Levesley-2021): A question becomes rejected when other elements that are incompatible with the question become accepted.

Questions To Accept

• Role of Sociocultural Factors in Question Acceptance: what is the role of sociocultural factors, such as economics or politics, in the process of question acceptance?
• Role of Employed Methods in Question Acceptance: Is the process of question acceptance affected by employed methods?

Questions Answered

This modification attempts to answer the following question(s):

• Mechanism of Question Acceptance: How do questions become accepted as legitimate topics of inquiry? What is the mechanism of question acceptance?
• Mechanism of Question Rejection: What is the mechanism of question rejection? How do questions become rejected by epistemic agents?

Verdict

The modification is currently being evaluated; a verdict is pending.

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