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|Question=What is '''theory'''? How should it be ''defined''?
|Authors List=Hakob Barseghyan,
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{{Topic
|Question=What is '''theory'''? How should it be ''defined''?
|Topic Type=Definitional
|Description=Among the major tasks of scientonomy is to explain transitions from one accepted theory to the next. Thus, it is crucial to have a well-defined notion of ''theory''.
|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 content of scientific theories [[CiteRef::Winther (2015)]].
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 (2015)]]. Proponents of the pragmatic view include Nancy Cartwright, Ian Hacking, Phillip Kitcher, and Helen Longino.
|History=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.[[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)]] As such, this definition excluded normative propositions. It was eventually replaced by the definition suggested by Sebastien in 2016.
|Current View=Currently, a '''theory''' is defined as a set of propositions that attempt to describe or prescribe something. Theories can be descriptive (e.g. natural, social, and formal science) or normative (e.g. methodology, ethics, and axiology)[[CiteRef::Sebastien (2016)]]. They may be empirical or formal. They may have different levels of complexity and elaboration; they may consist of thousands of interconnected propositions or, in an extreme, of one single proposition. Examples include Einstein's theory of general relativity, the standard model in particle physics, or the neo-Darwinian theory of evolution [[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)|p. 3]]. For the purposes of the theory of scientific change (TSC), a propositional view of theories is adopted. This is because only propositions can have a truth value or be truth-like, and the acceptance and rejection of theories is a core concern of the TSC. While models may play a role in scientific practice, no part of a model may be accepted or rejected unless it can be stated propositionally. If something is not expressible propositionally, at least in principle, it cannot have a truth value, and thus cannot be accepted or unaccepted as the best view of anything [[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)| p. 4]].[[File:Theory_Sebastien_2016_Definition.png|center|390px]]== Open Questions ==
• The TSC states that the choice of relevant facts is guided by our existing theories. Is it also the case that questions/problems in science become relevant because of existing theories? (Nick Overgaard, Hakob Barseghyan, 2016)
• Is it possible for a community to say that they do not accept a theory, but in reality they do? In other words, what is the status of ‘tacit knowledge’ in the TSC? Can we find historical cases of situations like this? (Jaqueline Sereda, 2016)
|Related Topics=Method, Scientific Mosaic
}}
