Support (Palider-2019)

This is a definition of Support that states "An agent takes theory A to be supporting theory B iff the agent accepts A and accepts that A→B."

This definition of Support was formulated by Kye Palider in 2019.1

Scientonomic History

Acceptance Record

This definition has never been accepted.

Suggestions To Accept

Here are all the modifications where the acceptance of this definition has been suggested:

Modification	Community	Date Suggested	Summary	Verdict	Verdict Rationale	Date Assessed
Sciento-2019-0010	Scientonomy	23 December 2019	Accept the new definitions of sufficient reason, reason, support, and normative inference.	Open

Question Answered

Support (Palider-2019) is an attempt to definition the following question: What is support? How should it be defined?

See Support for more details.

Description

When one theory is said to follow from another, then that theory is supported by the other theory. This notion of support relies on that of Implication (Palider-2019), where support requires that one theory implies the other. Support, just like implication, is not equated to logical deduction, but just means that there is some rule-governed (or logical) connection between the supported theory and its support for the agent. As such, generally, if an agent considers one theory as evidence for another theory, then that evidence is said to support the theory, regardless of how (in)conclusive the evidence is.

Support does not at all guarantee that the supported theory becomes accepted for the agent. What that requires is that the agent further has a Sufficient Reason (Palider-2019). Instead, support offers a useful way of talking about pieces of evidence for theories, and what assumptions make the supporting theories evidence.

Reasons

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