Theory Acceptance

What does it mean to say that a theory is accepted? How should theory acceptance be defined?

One of the tasks of scientonomy is to explain transitions from one accepted theory to the next. Thus, acceptance is a key concept in current scientonomy. Traditionally, the terms acceptance, use, and pursuit have not been distinguished. Confusion between the three terms leads to serious misunderstanding, thus their clarification is of great importance.1p. 30

In the scientonomic context, this term was first used by Hakob Barseghyan in 2015. The term is currently accepted by Scientonomy community.

In Scientonomy, the accepted definition of the term is:

• A theory is said to be accepted by an epistemic agent if it is taken as the best available answer to its respective question.

Scientonomic History

The original definition of the term was suggested by Hakob Barseghyan in The Laws of Scientific Change.1p. 31 After the inclusion of normative propositions into the elements of scientific change by Zoe Sebastien, the definition was changed to apply not only to descriptive but also to normative propositions.2p. 7

Acceptance Record of the Term

Here is the complete acceptance record of this term (it includes all the instances when the term was accepted as a part of a community's taxonomy):

Community	Accepted From	Acceptance Indicators	Still Accepted	Accepted Until	Rejection Indicators
Scientonomy	1 January 2016	This is when the community accepted its first definition of the term, Theory Acceptance (Barseghyan-2015), which indicates that the term itself became accepted.	Yes

All Definitions

The following definitions of theory acceptance the term have been suggested:

Theory	Formulation	Formulated In
Theory Acceptance (Barseghyan-2015)	A theory is said to be accepted if it is taken as the best available description of its object.	2015
Theory Acceptance (Sebastien-2016)	A theory is said to be accepted if it is taken as the best available description or prescription of its object.	2016
Theory Acceptance (Barseghyan-2018)	A theory is said to be accepted by an epistemic agent if it is taken as the best available answer to its respective question.	2018
Theory Acceptance (Fraser-Sarwar-2018)	An accepted theory is a scientific theory that is taken as the best available description or prescription of its object.	2018

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Accepted Definitions

The following definitions of theory acceptance have been accepted:

Community	Theory	Formulation	Accepted From	Accepted Until
Scientonomy	Theory Acceptance (Barseghyan-2015)	A theory is said to be accepted if it is taken as the best available description of its object.	1 January 2016	15 February 2017
Scientonomy	Theory Acceptance (Sebastien-2016)	A theory is said to be accepted if it is taken as the best available description or prescription of its object.	15 February 2017	1 September 2019
Scientonomy	Theory Acceptance (Barseghyan-2018)	A theory is said to be accepted by an epistemic agent if it is taken as the best available answer to its respective question.	1 September 2019

Suggested Modifications

Here is a list of modifications concerning the definitions of theory acceptance:

Modification	Community	Date Suggested	Summary	Date Assessed	Verdict	Verdict Rationale
Sciento-2016-0002	Scientonomy	3 September 2016	Accept a new taxonomy for theory, normative theory, descriptive theory to reintroduce normative propositions (such as those of ethics or methodology) to the scientific mosaic.	23 January 2017	Not Accepted	Since this modification consisted of two interrelated but essentially distinct suggestions - one definitional and one ontological - it was decided by the community to divide it into two modifications so that the gist of the proposed suggestions is properly articulated. In particular, it was agreed that there are two modifications in "the heart of this single modification - one ontological, the other definitional".c1 It was also agreed that the current formulation "is exclusively definitional, and does not give the community an opportunity to appreciate (and, well, accept) the ontological changes that come along with it".c2 Consequently, it was decided to divide this modification into two modifications - one definitional and one ontological.c3
Sciento-2017-0002	Scientonomy	23 January 2017	Accept a new ontology of scientific change where the two fundamental elements are theories - both descriptive and normative - and methods.	15 February 2017	Accepted	The community has agreed that after the solution of the paradox of normative propositions, there are no obstacles for including normative propositions into the ontology of scientific change.c1 c2 c3 It was also agreed that including normative propositions into the ontology of scientific change "would allow us to grasp the role that methodological and ethical rules play in science".c4
Sciento-2018-0006	Scientonomy	8 October 2018	Accept the new ontology of epistemic elements with, theories and questions are the two basic epistemic elements where and each theory is an attempt to answer a certain question, theories can be of three types – descriptive, normative, or definitions, and methods are a subtype of normative theory.	1 September 2019	Accepted	Following a series of off-line discussions, a consensus emerged concerning this modification: it was agreed that the modification is to be accepted.c1 It was mentioned that most of the elements of this new ontology "has already been accepted by the scientonomic community".c2 It was also stressed that "the consensus has been manifested on several occasions, including the first scientonomy conference in May 2019 in Toronto, where several of the presenters treated this new ontology as accepted."c3 The fact that the consensus concerning this modification has been achieved primarily off-line, i.e. outside of the discussion pages of this encyclopedia suggests that the scientonomic "workflow must have a way of accommodating these discussions".c4
Sciento-2018-0019	Scientonomy	28 December 2018	Accept the new definition of theory acceptance which makes explicit that accepted theories are a subset of scientific theories.		Open

Current Definition

In Scientonomy, the accepted definition of the term is Theory Acceptance (Barseghyan-2018).

Theory Acceptance (Barseghyan-2018) states: "A theory is said to be accepted by an epistemic agent if it is taken as the best available answer to its respective question."

This definition of the term makes it possible to apply the notion of theory acceptance to any subtype of theory. Unlike the previous definitions of the term, it doesn't imply any specific subtypes of theory, but explicitly states the relation between theories and questions they attempt to answer.

Ontology

Existence

In Scientonomy, it is currently accepted that "There is such a thing as theory acceptance."

Subtypes

In Scientonomy, there are currently no accepted subtypes of Theory Acceptance.

Supertypes

In Scientonomy, the following supertype of Theory Acceptance is currently accepted:

• Epistemic Stance

Associations

In Scientonomy, there are currently no accepted associations of Theory Acceptance.

Disjointness

In Scientonomy, no classes are currently accepted as disjoint with Theory Acceptance.

If a question concerning the ontology of theory acceptance is missing, please add it here.

Dynamics

Mechanism of Theory Acceptance

In Scientonomy, the accepted answer to the question is:

• If a theory satisfies the acceptance criteria of the method employed at the time, it becomes accepted into the mosaic; if it does not, it remains unaccepted; if assessment is inconclusive, the theory can be accepted or not accepted.

If a question concerning the dynamics of theory acceptance is missing, please add it here.

Related Topics

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

• Mechanism of Theory Acceptance
• Theory Use
• Theory Pursuit
• Theory