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Mechanism of Theory Pursuit (view source)
Revision as of 17:21, 20 October 2022
, 17:21, 20 October 2022no edit summary
{{Topic
|Question=What is the mechanism of '''theory pursuit''', if any? How do theories become ''pursued'' by communities? Is pursuit purely determined by sociocultural factors or is there an epistemic element to it as well?
|Topic Type=Descriptive
|Description=The scope of scientonomy encompasses the process of [[Theory Acceptance|theory acceptance]], whereas the question of how theories become [[Theory Pursuit|pursued]] is currently not within the scope of theoretical scientonomy. However, in principle, it might be interesting to see if there is any logic to the process of theory pursuit. Theory pursuit is heavily influenced by sociocultural factors which can affect incentive structures and constrain the pursuit of various theories. However, is it solely determined by sociocultural factors or are there epistemological aspects to theory pursuit as well?|Parent Topic=Mechanism of Scientific Change|Authors List=Hakob Barseghyan,
|Formulated Year=2015
|Prehistory=Among classical philosophers of science, there was no unanimity as to whether the question of theory pursuit can have a reasonable answer. For instance, [[Imre Lakatos]] can be interpreted as claiming that while one has to [[Theory Acceptance|accept]] the most progressive research programme, one can legitimately [[Theory Pursuit|pursue]] any research programme whatsoever.[[CiteRef::Lakatos (1971a)|p. 117]] The latter part of the claim would be readily accepted by Paul Feyerabend.[[CiteRef::Feyerabend (1976a)|pp. 213-216]]
In another example, for Kuhn, a theory would become worth pursuit so long as it satisfied the method of the time and views.[[CiteRef::Godfrey-Smith (2003)|p 91-92]]
|History=In [[Barseghyan (2015)|''The Laws of Scientific Change'']], Barseghyan left the question of including the logic of pursuit into the scope of scientonomy open. According to Barseghyan, "we are neither restrained nor obliged to provide an account of pursuit in an actual TSC".[[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)|p. 41]]
|Current View=|Related Topics=Mechanism of Theory Acceptance,
|Page Status=Needs Editing
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{{Acceptance Record
|Acceptance Indicators=The question became ''de facto'' accepted by the community as legitimate at that time together with the whole [[The Theory of Scientific Change|theory of scientific change]].
|Still Accepted=Yes
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|Accepted Until Approximate=No
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