Changes

|Description=There are at least three different sorts of questions concerning the process of scientific change; historical questions, theoretical questions, and methodological questions [[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)|p. 12]]. Historical questions deal with actual courses of events such as what theories were accepted and what methods were employed at a particular time. Theoretical questions deal with such matters as the mechanisms of theory and method change. These are both sorts of descriptive questions. Methodological questions deal with normative matters such as what methods ought to be employed and what theories ought to be accepted. The question at issue is which of these sorts of questions ought to fall within the scope of scientonomy, and which should not. As a result, the answer to this question will determine which cases can be investigated through scientonomy.

|Parent Topic=Scope of Scientonomy

|Formulated Year=2015

|Prehistory=Logical positivists were concerned with justifying scientific knowledge and progress. In their case, it was about increasing the probabilities. As a consequence, they believed that a theory of scientific change should be normative. After all, the actual scientific practices may concern many changes in belief that were not justified on epistemic grounds. An illustration of this tendency can be found in [[Alfred Jules Ayer]]'s work engaged with questions of justification such as whether the principle of verifiability is justified rather than empirical questions about the behavior of the scientists.[[CiteRef::Ayer (1952)|p. 6]]

Finally, it is important to note that one of the main reasons why the classic philosophy of science engaged with both normative and descriptive views is that many philosophers conflated the descriptive questions with the normative ones . The theories of Kuhn, Lakatos, and early Laudan can all be considered either as descriptions of how science changes through time and/or prescriptions of how it ought to change.[[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)|pp. 12-21]]

|Page Status=Editor Approved

|Author=Hakob Barseghyan,

}}

|Acceptance Indicators=That is when the community accepted its first answer to this question, the Scope of Scientonomy - Description(Barseghyan-2015), which indicates that the question is itself considered legitimate.[[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2015) |pp. 12-21]]

|Still Accepted=Yes

|Accepted Until Approximate=No

}}