Changes

|Year=2017

|Abstract=Although we accept that a scientific mosaic is a set of theories and methods accepted and employed by a scientific community, ''scientific community'' currently lacks a proper definition in scientonomy. In this paper, I will outline a basic taxonomy for the bearers of a mosaic, i.e. the social agents of scientific change. I begin by differentiating between ''accidental group'' and ''community'' through the respective absence and presence of a collective intentionality. I then identify two subtypes of community: the ''epistemic community'' that has a collective intentionality to know the world, and the ''non-epistemic community'' that does not have such a collective intentionality. I note that both epistemic and non-epistemic communities might bear mosaics, but that epistemic communities are the intended social agents of scientific change because their main collective intentionality is to know the world and, in effect, to change their mosaics. I conclude my paper by arguing we are not currently in a position to properly define ''scientific community'' per se because of the risk of confusing ''pseudoscientific communities'' with scientific communities. However, I propose that we can for now rely on the definition of epistemic community as the proper social agent of scientific change.

|Journal=[[Journal of Scientonomy|Scientonomy]]

|Volume=1

|Pages=55-62

}}