Changeability of the Scientific Mosaic

Under what circumstances does scientific change become impossible?

A theory of scientific change seeks to describe the conditions under which scientific change can occur. If change can occur within a given mosaic, the theory should set out to describe how such a change is possible and under which circumstances changes can and cannot happen. This is a crucial question that must be answered by any such theory.

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.

In Scientonomy, the accepted answer to the question is:

• If an accepted theory is taken as the final truth, it will always remain accepted; no new theory on the subject can ever be accepted.

Scientonomic 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 first answer to the question was accepted, the Dogmatism No Theory Change theorem (Barseghyan-2015), indicating that the question is itself legitimate.	Yes

All Theories

The following theories have attempted to answer this question:

Theory	Formulation	Formulated In
Dogmatism No Theory Change theorem (Barseghyan-2015)	If an accepted theory is taken as the final truth, it will always remain accepted; no new theory on the subject can ever be accepted.	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	Dogmatism No Theory Change theorem (Barseghyan-2015)	1 January 2016

Suggested Modifications

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

Current View

In Scientonomy, the accepted answer to the question is Dogmatism No Theory Change theorem (Barseghyan-2015).

Dogmatism No Theory Change theorem (Barseghyan-2015) states: "If an accepted theory is taken as the final truth, it will always remain accepted; no new theory on the subject can ever be accepted."

No theory acceptance may take place in a genuinely dogmatic community. "Namely," as is noted in Barseghyan (2015), Barseghyan notes, when introducing the theory rejection theorem in Barseghyan (2015), "theory change is impossible in cases where a currently accepted theory is considered as revealing the final and absolute truth".1p. 165

Related Topics

This question is a subquestion of Mechanism of Scientific Change.

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

• Mechanism of Theory Acceptance
• Mechanism of Theory Rejection
• Mechanism of Method Rejection