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Since it follows from According to the law, in order to become accepted, a theory is assessed by the definition of [[Employed Method|''employed method'']] (a set of implicit rules actually employed at the time by the [[Scientific Community|scientific community]] in theory assessmentquestion.[[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2015), this formulation of |p. 129]] The key idea behind the second law is viewed as a tautologythat theories are evaluated by the criteria employed by the community at the time of the evaluation. Thus, different communities employing different method of evaluation can end up producing different assessment outcomes. Barseghyan notes an important consequence of the law: <blockquote>So the question that the historian must ask here is: what were the expectations of the respective scientific communities that allowed for the acceptance of the respective natural philosophies? The second law suggests that, in order to reconstruct the actual method employed at a theory may violate particular time, we must study the actual transitions in theories that took place at that time.[[MethodologyCiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)|methodologyp. 130]] </blockquote> A further important consequence of the law has to which do with the famous, long-standing debate on the status of novel predictions. Some authors (including Popper, Lakatos, and Musgrave) argue for a special status of novel predictions, where others (like Hempel, Carnap, and Laudan) argue that novel predictions do not substantially differ from post factum explanations or "retro-dictions". But by the second law, as Barseghyan writes, "the whole debate in its current shape is ill-founded".[[Scientific CommunityCiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)|scientific communityp. 131]] explicitly subscribesWhether novel predictions have a special status, in that "a new theory is expected to have confirmed novel predictions in order to become accepted", but not is, by the actually ''second law'', dependent on a community's employed method - a fact true by definitionat the time. Instead of being concerned with all theories in all contexts, we must ask whether theories in specific communities at specific time periods were required to have confirmed novel predictions.
The Second Law (Barseghyan-2015) (view source)
Revision as of 17:07, 27 January 2023
, 17:07, 27 January 2023no edit summary
{{Theory
|Topic=Mechanism of Theory Acceptance
|Theory Type=Descriptive
|Subject=
|Predicate=
|Title=The Second Law
|Theory TypeAlternate Titles=the law of theory acceptance|Title Formula=|Text Formula=Descriptive
|Formulation Text=In order to become accepted into the mosaic, a theory is assessed by the method actually employed at the time.
|Formulation FileObject=The Second Law Barseghyan 2015.png|Topic=Mechanism of Theory Acceptance
|Authors List=Hakob Barseghyan,
|Formulated Year=2015
|Formulation File=The Second Law Barseghyan 2015.png|Description=According to Barseghyan's original formulation of the second law, in order to "theories become accepted, a theory is assessed by only when they satisfy the requirements of the [[Method|method]] methods actually employed at the time by . In other words there is only one way for a theory to become accepted – it must meet the implicit expectations of the [[Scientific Community|scientific community]] in question".[[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)|p. 129]] The key idea behind the second law is that theories are evaluated by the criteria employed by the community at the time of the evaluation. Thus, different communities employing different method of evaluation can end up producing different assessment outcomes.
|Resource=Barseghyan (2015)
|Prehistory=In his 'Structure of Scientific Revolutions'[[CiteRef::Kuhn (1962a)]], [[Thomas Kuhn]] supposed that theories, methods, and values formed integrated units which he called paradigms. Kuhn's holism lead him to view scientific change as a kind of gestalt shift, seemingly involving a non-rational leap of faith. Critics charged him with attributing scientific change to "mob psychology". Later, he suggested that scientists are guided by epistemic values in making such choices. He supposed these values were fixed through history [[CiteRef::Kuhn (1977a)]].
|VideoDescription=The second law explained by Hakob Barseghyan
|VideoEmbedSection=Description
}}
{{Theory Example
|Title=Acceptance of Cartesian and Newtonian Theories
|Description=Another example from ''The Laws of Scientific Change'':
<blockquote>Suppose we study the history of the transition from the Aristotelian-medieval natural philosophy to that of Descartes in France and that of Newton in Britain circa 1700. It follows from ''the second law'' that both theories managed to satisfy the actual expectations of the respective scientific communities, for otherwise they wouldn’t have become accepted.[[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)|p. 130]]</blockquote>
|Example Type=Historical
}}
{{Theory Example
|Title=Acceptance of General Relativity
|Description=The example is presented in [[Barseghyan (2015)|''The Laws of Scientific Change'']]:
<blockquote>Even the most “revolutionary” theories must meet the actual requirements of the time in order to become accepted. Einstein’s general relativity is considered as one of the most ground-breaking theories of all time and, yet, it was evaluated in an orderly fashion and became accepted only after it satisfied the requirements of the time. From that episode we can reconstruct what the actual requirements of the time were. It is well known that the theory became accepted circa 1920, after the publication of the results of Eddington’s famous observations of the Solar eclipse of May 29, 1919 which confirmed one of the novel predictions of general relativity – namely, the deflection of light in the spacetime curved due to the Sun’s mass. Thus, it is safe to say that the scientific community of the time expected (among other things) that a new theory must have confirmed novel predictions.[[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)|p. 130]]</blockquote>
|Example Type=Historical
}}
{{Acceptance Record
