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{{Topic|Question=What is '''theory'''Theory? How should it be ''defined' '?|Topic Type=Definitional|Description=Among the major tasks of scientonomy is a set of propositions that attempt to describe or prescribe somethingexplain transitions from one accepted theory to the next. They can be descriptive (e.g. naturalThus, social, and formal science) or normative (eit is crucial to have a well-defined notion of ''theory''.g. methodology, ethics|Authors List=Hakob Barseghyan, |Formulated Year=2015|Prehistory=In modern times philosophers have held a variety of views about how best to express the structure and axiology). Theories can consist of thousands of interconnected propositions or, in an extreme, content of one single propositionscientific theories. [[CiteRef::Winther (2016)]]
== Prehistory =Syntactic View==<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">Prehistory here </div>The syntactical view holds that the structure of a scientific theory can be captured by an axiomatized system of sentences. It is expressed in a metamathematical language that included predicate logic, set theory, and model theory.[[CiteRef::Winther (2016)]] In 1928 [[Rudolf Carnap]] published his ''The Logical Structure of the World'', which put forward this view, which was central to logical empiricism.[[CiteRef::Andersen and Hepburn (2015)]] [[Hans Reichenbach]], [[Otto Neurath]], [[Carl Hempel]], and [[Herbert Feigl]] were also major contributors. The logical empiricist answer to the question of the structure of scientific theories was a family of related ideas rather than a single approach.[[CiteRef::Mormann (2008)]] The view was so widely accepted in the early twentieth century that it is sometimes referred to as the received view.[[CiteRef::Halvorson (2012)]]
== History =Semantic View===The semantic view holds that the structure of a scientific theory can be expressed as a set of mathematical models, as models were defined by [[Alfred Tarski]]. It rejects the metamathematical language of the syntactic view.[[CiteRef::Halvorson (2012)]][[CiteRef::Winther (2016)]] Some important models in science include the bag model of quark confinement, the hard ball model of a gas, the Bohr model of the atom, the Gauss chain model of a polymer, the Lorentz model of the atmosphere, and the double helix model of DNA.[[CiteRef::Frigg (2006)]] Major proponents of the semantic view include [[John Von Neumann]], who wrote on the subject in the thirties, [[Fredrick Suppe]], and [[Bas Van Fraassen]].[[CiteRef::Winther (2016)]] The semantic view emerged in the 1960’s and 1970’s and became the dominant view in subsequent decades. [[John Ladyman]] used it in his formulation of structural realism in physics. The semantic view has played a major role in the philosophy of biology and psychology in recent decades.[[CiteRef::Halvorson (2012)]]
== Current =Pragmatic View === === Descriptive The pragmatic view rejects a purely formal characterization of scientific theories entirely, and supposes that a theory necessarily consists of sentences, models, problems, standards, skills, practices, including such things as analogies, metaphors, and natural kinds, with its full characterization necessarily including elements that cannot be formalized.[[CiteRef::Mormann (2008)]][[CiteRef::Winther (2016)]] Proponents of the pragmatic view include [[Nancy Cartwright]], [[Ian Hacking]], [[Philip Kitcher]], and Normative === == Open Questions == • Question 1 • Question 2[[Helen Longino]].|History== Related Articles == [[Scientific MosaicTheory (Barseghyan-2015)|The original definition]] of ''theory'' was proposed by Barseghyan in 2015. It defined a theory as any set of propositions that attempt to describe something.[[MethodCiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)]] As such, this definition excluded normative propositions. In early 2017, it was replaced by [[The Second LawTheory (Sebastien-2016)|the definition]]suggested by Sebastien in 2016.|Related Topics=Method, Scientific Mosaic, Law,|Page Status=Needs Editing}}{{Acceptance Record|Community= Notes Community:Scientonomy|Accepted From Era=CE|Accepted From Year=2016|Accepted From Month=January|Accepted From Day=1|Accepted From Approximate=No|Still Accepted=Yes|Accepted Until Approximate=No<references />}}
