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Ontology of Scientific Change (view source)
Revision as of 01:18, 28 February 2023
, 01:18, 28 February 2023no edit summary
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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 Agent|epistemic ''agents'']] can there be? I.e. can epistemic agents be communal, individual and/or artificial (instruments, AI)?* What types of [[Epistemic Element|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 Stance|''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.
In the early twentieth century, logical positivists formulated an ontology of scientific change. While they individually held varying views, we can summarize their ontology by generalizing from the overlap between authors. The positivists generally supposed that there was a single scientific [[Method|method]] that did not change through history or across disciplines so that the only epistemic elements capable of change in their ontology were [[Theory|scientific theories]].[[CiteRef::Schlick (1931)|pp.145-162]] A similar ontology was championed by many non-positivist authors, including [[Karl Popper]].[[CiteRef::Popper (1963)|pp. 62-63]]
Despite its inherent vagueness, Kuhn’s [[Kuhn (1962a)|''Structure of Scientific Revolutions'']] can be interpreted as suggesting a number of new ontological elements, including ''methods'', ''values'', ''questions'', ''standards'', and ''problems''. It is not quite clear whether these are all meant to be independent epistemic elements in their own right. Kuhn also famously used a whole range of words denoting epistemic stances, such as ''embraced'', ''universally received'',''acknowledged'', and ''committed'' among many others.[[CiteRef::Kuhn (1970c)|pp. 10-13]] It remains to be seen whether he meant them as synonyms, or whether he ascribed different meanings to at least some of them.[[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)|p. 30]]
Imre Lakatos generated a holistic account of scientific change slightly regressive to previous ontologies. Lakatos kept Kuhn’s view of the fluidity of paradigms within scientific communities however, with two small modifications. Firstly, Lakatos saw paradigms as research programmes, of which many simultaneously existed, and secondly Lakatos believed they followed a more rational model of change, i.e. modifications were judged as regressive or progressive based on certain conditions.[[CiteRef::Lakatos (1970)|pp. 31-34]] With regards to regression, Paul Feyerabend criticized Lakatos for once again suggesting that theories can only be pursued. The whole system Lakatos built was a high functioning competition between research programmes.[[CiteRef::Feyerabend (1970a)]] As such, per Lakatos, theories could never really be accepted, and thus they carried the potential to threaten science with a potentially infinite number of theories all of which are rational to pursue.
Barseghyan's original ontology included:
* [[Theory Is a Subtype of Epistemic Element (Barseghyan-2015)|''theories''Theories]] and [[Method Is a Subtype of Epistemic Element (Barseghyan-2015)|''methods'']] as the only two types of [[Epistemic Elements|epistmeic elements]] that undergo scientific change;[[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)|pp. 3-11]]* three Three [[Epistemic Stances Towards Theories|''epistemic stances'' towards ''theories'']]: ''acceptance'', ''use'', and ''pursuit'',[[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)|pp. 30-42]] as well as one [[Epistemic Stances Towards Methods|''epistemic stance'' towards ''methods'']], ''employment'';[[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)|pp. 52-62]] * and ''community'' Community as the sole [[Epistemic Agent|''epistemic agent'']] capable of taking these stances towards theories and methods.[[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)|pp. 43-52]]
Only [[Descriptive Theory|''descriptive theories'']] were included in Barseghyan's original ontology, while the status of [[Normative Theory|''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 ontology was extended by [[Zoe Sebastien|Sebastien]] to also include [[Normative Theory Is a Subtype of Theory (Sebastien-2016)|normative theories]].[[CiteRef::Sebastien (2016)]]
In 2018, [[William Rawleigh|Rawleigh]] suggested that [[Question|questions]] are to be accepted as a separate [[Question Is a Subtype of Epistemic Element (Rawleigh-2018)|type of epistemic element]]; the suggestion became accepted later that year and the ontology was modified to include theories, methods, and questions.[[CiteRef::Rawleigh (2018)]]
The ontology was further modified by Hakob Barseghyan in 2018. In his [[Barseghyan (2018)|''redrafted ontology'']], he suggested that methods are a subtype of normative theory. He also suggested including [[Definition|definitions]] as a subtype of theory.[[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2018)]] As a result of the acceptance of [[Modification:Sciento-2018-0006|that modification]], theories and questions became the two basic subtypes of epistemic elements, with definitions, normative, and descriptive theories being subtypes of [[Theory|theory]].
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