Scope of Scientonomy - Appraisal (Barseghyan-2015)
This is an answer to the question Scope of Scientonomy - Construction and Appraisal that states "Scientonomy should describe and explain how changes in the mosaic of accepted scientific theories and employed methods take place. Any such instance of scientific change is a result of appraisal, which is a decision of the community to accept a proposed modification to the mosaic. Scientonomy must provide an account of this appraisal process. A theory of scientific change is not required to account for the process of theory construction."
Scope of Scientonomy - Appraisal was formulated by Hakob Barseghyan in 2015.1 It is currently accepted by Scientonomy community as the best available answer to the question.
Broader History
Hans Reichenbach is commonly considered to have been the first to draw the distinction between the context of discovery, which is a historical and creative process having to do with the construction of the theory, and the context of justification, which is the supposedly distinct logical enterprise of the defense and appraisal of a theory.2 The idea that the historical context of discovery can be clearly distinguished from the logical context of justification was questioned by Hanson, Kuhn, and Feyerabend.1p. 233p. 149
Paul Hoyningen-Huene proposed a lean distinction between the two contexts, proposing that they are simply two different perspectives that can be taken towards scientific knowledge. Unlike earlier views, it does not suppose that discovery and justification are two distinct processes.4pp. 128-130 Hakob Barseghyan deemed the terms discovery and justification to be misleading.1pp. 23-25 Discovery is generally taken to refer to an epistemic achievement that has been positively appraised, such as the discovery of the planet Neptune. The term construction, used instead, refers to the creative processes by which new theories come about. Theories undergo a process of appraisal by a scientific community. Thus, we speak of the questions of theory construction and theory appraisal.
Scientonomic History
Acceptance Record
| Community | Accepted From | Acceptance Indicators | Still Accepted | Accepted Until | Rejection Indicators |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scientonomy | 1 January 2016 | The theory was introduced by Barseghyan in The Laws of Scientific Change pp. 21-29 and became de facto accepted by the community at that time together with the whole theory of scientific change. | Yes |
Question Answered
Scope of Scientonomy - Appraisal (Barseghyan-2015) is an attempt to answer the following question: Ought the process of scientific change be viewed from the perspective of theory construction or that of theory appraisal?
See Scope of Scientonomy - Construction and Appraisal for more details.
Description
The goal of scientonomy is to give a descriptive account of the process of scientific change. Given this goal, it is obvious that it must describe and explain how changes in the mosaic of accepted scientific theories and employed methods take place. Any actual instance of scientific change is the result of an appraisal. Therefore, a theory of scientific change must provide an account of how theories are actually appraised and thereby explain how changes in the mosaic occur. On the other hand, it can but is not required to account for the process of theory construction.1p. 29
Reasons
No reasons are indicated for this theory.
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Questions About This Theory
There are no higher-order questions concerning this theory.
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References
- a b c d Barseghyan, Hakob. (2015) The Laws of Scientific Change. Springer.
- ^ Laudan, Larry. (1980) Why Was the Logic of Scientific Discovery Abandoned? In Nickles (Ed.) (1980), 173-183.
- ^ Feyerabend, Paul. (1975) Against Method. New Left Books.
- ^ Hoyningen-Huene, Paul. (2006) Context of Discovery Versus Context of Justification and Thomas Kuhn. In Schickore and Steinle (Eds.) (2006), 119-131.