editor, Administrators
2,020
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
The Theory of Scientific Change (view source)
Revision as of 16:45, 2 November 2016
, 16:45, 2 November 2016no edit summary
The ''[[The_First_Law|First Law]]'', also known as the ''Law of Scientific Inertia'' states that an element of the [[Scientific_Mosaic|scientific mosaic]] remains in the mosaic unless replaced by other elements. These elements include both [[Theory|theories]] and [[Method|methods]]. Replacement takes place in accordance with the [[The_Second_Law|Second]] and [[The Third Law|Third]] Laws [[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)|p. 123-129]]. The logic behind the first law is somewhat similar to that of Newton's first law of motion. It identifies a 'null case' in which no unbalanced outside forces are acting and therefore nothing changes. Similar notions were suggested earlier by Popper, Kuhn, and Lakatos.
The ''[[The_Second_Law|Second Law]]'', also known as the ''Law of Theory Acceptance'' states that in order to become accepted into the [[Scientific_Mosaic|scientific mosaic]], a [[Theory|theory]] is assessed by the [[Method|method]] actually employed at the time[[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)|p. 129-132]]. It is an answer to the a question of how a new theory becomes accepted into the mosaic. Because different communities employ different methods of theory evaluation and the same community can change its methods with time, different assessment outcomes can result. The second law makes an important distinction between the methodology explicitly espoused by a community, and methods it actually employs in theory assessment.
The ''[[The_Third_Law|Third Law]]'', also known as the ''Law of Method Employment'' states that a [[Method|method]] becomes employed when it is deducible from some subset of other employed [[Method|methods]] and accepted [[Theory|theories]] of the time[[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)|p. 132-152]].
