Changes

{{Topic

|Topic Type=Descriptive

|Description=Theory rejection is a necessary part of [[Mechanism of Scientific Change|scientific change]]. Any theory of scientific change requires a means to explain how a theory becomes rejected.

|Formulated Year=2015

|Prehistory=The question about the rejection of theories has been an important one throughout the history of science. Many philosophers of science have attempted to provide an answer to the question of how scientific theories get rejected. Both rationalists and empiricists thought that empirical theories can be rejected or disproved in an incontrovertible manner. Believing that there is an absolute method of science, they contended that theories are assessed by this method, and if they fail to satisfy the method’s requirements, they are conclusively rejected.[[CiteRef::Laudan (1970a)]] [[Immanuel Kant]] echoed their beliefs. He held that scientific theories (especially Newtonian mechanics) are synthetic ''a priori''. As their knowledge is gained independently of experience but is nevertheless synthetic, theories can never be rejected as no empirical evidence can contradict them.[[CiteRef::Kant (1781)]]

Building on the ideas of his predecessors, the later [[Larry Laudan]] proposed the reticulated model in his book [[Laudan (1984a)|''Science and Values'']]. '''Reticulated model''' posits that the values, methodologies, and theories of a given scientific community at a particular time mutually influence each other. It is through the interaction of epistemic values and scientific methodologies that theories are modified or rejected. Therefore, for Laudan, the expectations of the contingent, historical scientific community and its methodologies lead to the rejection of theories.[[CiteRef::Laudan (1984a)]] Laudan’s ideas are arguably significant preludes to the foundations of scientonomy.

|Page Status=Needs Editing

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{{Acceptance Record

|Acceptance Indicators=This is when the community accepted its first answer to this question, [[Theory Rejection theorem (Barseghyan-2015)]], which indicates that the question is itself legitimate.

|Still Accepted=Yes

|Accepted Until Approximate=No

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