Epistemic Agent

What is epistemic agent? How should it be defined?

The notion of epistemic agent plays a central role in scientonomy. In the scientonomic context it was first used in Barseghyan's Redrafting the Ontology of Scientific Change where the term was not defined.1pp. 64-65 Since the term stands in an important relationship with the notions of epistemic element and epistemic stance, it is important to provide the term with a proper scientonomic definition.

In the scientonomic context, this term was first used by Hakob Barseghyan in 2018. The term is currently accepted by Scientonomy community.

In Scientonomy, the accepted definition of the term is:

• An agent capable of taking epistemic stances towards epistemic elements.

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	8 October 2018	The publication of Barseghyan (2018) is an indication of the acceptance of the term.	Yes

All Theories

The following theories have attempted to answer this question:

Theory	Formulation	Formulated In
Epistemic Agent (Patton-2019)	An agent capable of taking epistemic stances towards epistemic elements.	2019

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Accepted Theories

The following theories have been accepted as answers to this question:

Community	Theory	Accepted From	Accepted Until
Scientonomy	Epistemic Agent (Patton-2019)	11 October 2020

Suggested Modifications

Here is a list of modifications concerning this topic:

Modification	Community	Date Suggested	Summary	Verdict	Verdict Rationale	Date Assessed
Sciento-2019-0014	Scientonomy	26 December 2019	Accept the new definition of epistemic agent as an agent capable of taking epistemic stances towards epistemic elements.	Accepted	The modification was characterized as "a very welcome addition to the scientonomic ontology" for despite all the talks of epistemic agents "the very notion of epistemic agency has remained unclear" for years,c1 for its "strict explication has been lacking".c2 It was agreed that the definition is an important starting point for our discussions concerning individual and communal agents.c3 c4 It was also noted that the definition is important for addressing the "the question of agency of epistemic tools"c5 and the question of "the applicability of scientonomic laws to individual agents".c6	11 October 2020

Current View

In Scientonomy, the accepted definition of the term is Epistemic Agent (Patton-2019).

Epistemic Agent (Patton-2019) states: "An agent capable of taking epistemic stances towards epistemic elements."

An epistemic agent acts in relation to epistemic elements such as theories, questions, and methods. The actions of an epistemic agent amount to taking epistemic stances towards these elements, such as accepting or pursuing a theory, accepting a question, or employing a method. The stances of an epistemic agent must be intentional. To be so, they must satisfy the following conditions:

1. the agent must have a semantic understanding of the propositions that constitute the epistemic element in question and of its available alternatives; and
2. the agent must be able to choose from among the available alternatives with reason, and for the purpose of acquiring knowledge.1