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Ontology of Scientific Change (view source)
Revision as of 20:23, 23 January 2023
, 20:23, 23 January 2023no edit summary
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|QuestionSubject=What is the '''ontology''' of scientific change? What are the fundamental ''entities'', ''processes'', and ''relations'' of scientific change?
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|Description=In the process of [[Mechanism of Scientific Change|scientific change]], we are dealing with different epistemic ''agents'', taking different epistemic ''stances'' towards different epistemic ''elements''. For instance, we can say that the Paris community of 1720 [[Theory Acceptance|accepted]] [[René Descartes|Cartesian natural philosophy]]. In this example, Paris community is the epistemic ''agent'', acceptance is their epistemic ''stance'', and Cartesian natural philosophy is the epistemic element. There are a number of important ontological questions that arise here:
* What types of [[Epistemic AgentsAgent|epistemic ''agents'']] can there be? I.e. can epistemic agents be communal, individual and/or artificial (instruments, AI)?* What types of [[Epistemic ElementsElement|epistemic ''elements'']] can there be in the process of scientific change? I.e. are there theories, method, values, research programmes, paradigms, etc.?* What are the different [[Epistemic StancesStance|''epistemic stances'']] that an agent can take towards an element? I.e. do these include acceptance, use, pursuit, employment, commitment, neglect, rejection, etc.?
Addressing these questions is the main task of the ontology of scientific change.
|Authors List=Hakob Barseghyan,
|Formulated Year=2015
|Prehistory=Historically, theories of scientific change differed not only in their explanations of how science changes through time, but also in their views on what exactly underwent change in science. Thus, a range of different ontologies of scientific change have been suggested over the years.
Barseghyan's original ontology included:
* ''theory'' and ''method'' as the only two types of [[Epistemic Elements - Theories and Methods (Barseghyan-2015)|''epistemic elements'']] that undergo scientific change;[[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)|pp. 3-11]]
* three [[Epistemic Stances Towards Theories - Acceptance Use and Pursuit (Barseghyan-2015)|''epistemic stances'' towards ''theories'']]: ''acceptance'', ''use'', and ''pursuit'',[[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)|pp. 30-42]] as well as one [[Epistemic Stances Towards Methods - Employment (Barseghyan-2015)|''epistemic stance'' towards ''methods'']], ''employment'';[[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)|pp. 52-62]] * and ''community'' as the sole [[Epistemic Agents - Community (Barseghyan-2015)Agent|''epistemic agent'']] capable of taking these stances towards theories and methods.[[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)|pp. 43-52]]
Only ''descriptive'' theories were included in Barseghyan's original ontology, while the status of normative theories was left indeterminate due to the [[The Paradox of Normative Propositions|the paradox of normative propositions]]. Once the paradox of normative propositions was [[Resolution to the Paradox of Normative Propositions (Sebastien-2016)|''resolved'']], the original [[Epistemic Elements - Theories and Methods (Sebastien-2017)|ontology was extended]] by [[Zoe Sebastien|Sebastien]] to also include normative theories.[[CiteRef::Sebastien (2016)]]
In 2018, [[William Rawleigh|Rawleigh]] [[Epistemic Elements - Theories Methods and Questions (Rawleigh-2018)|suggested]] that [[Question|questions]] are to be accepted as a separate epistemic element; the suggestion became accepted later that year and the ontology was modified to include theories, methods, and questions.[[CiteRef::Rawleigh (2018)]]
|Current View=|Parent Topic=|Related Topics=Mechanism of Scientific Change,
|Page Status=Needs Editing
|Editor Notes=The whole prehistory needs rewriting. It's very poor at the moment.
|Acceptance Indicators=The question was tacitly accepted even before its explicit formulation in 2017. Thus, it has the same acceptance date as the rest of the original TSC.
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|Accepted Until Approximate=No
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