Difference between revisions of "Underdetermined Theory Change theorem (Barseghyan-2015)"

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|Formulation Text=The process of theory change is not necessarily deterministic: there may be cases when both a theory's acceptance and its unacceptance are equally possible.
 
|Formulation Text=The process of theory change is not necessarily deterministic: there may be cases when both a theory's acceptance and its unacceptance are equally possible.
 
|Formulation File=Underdetermined-theory-change-box-only.jpg
 
|Formulation File=Underdetermined-theory-change-box-only.jpg
|Topic=Determinism vs Underdeterminism in Scientific Change
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|Topic=Determinism vs. Underdeterminism in Scientific Change
 
|Authors List=Hakob Barseghyan,
 
|Authors List=Hakob Barseghyan,
 
|Formulated Year=2015
 
|Formulated Year=2015
|Description======Underdetermined theory change=====
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|Description=The process of [[Theory Acceptance|theory assessment]] under the TSC is underdetermined for two reasons. First, only [[Theory|theories]] that are constructed are available for assessment. Whether or not a theory is ever constructed is, at least partly a matter of creativity, and is therefore outside the scope of the TSC. Second, it is at least theoretically possible that a process of theory assessment will be inconclusive. This might be because the requirements of the method employed at the time might be vague (e.g. Aristotelian requirements of "intuition schooled by experience").[[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)|p. 199-200]]
The process of [[Theory Acceptance|theory assessment]] under the TSC is underdetermined for two reasons. First, only [[Theory|theories]] that are constructed are available for assessment. Whether or not a theory is ever constructed is, at least partly a matter of creativity, and is therefore outside the scope of the TSC. Second, it is at least theoretically possible that a process of theory assessment will be inconclusive. This might be because the employed method of the time is vague, or because it involves multiple criteria, only some of which have been met [[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)| p. 199-200]].
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[[File:Underdetermined-theory-change.jpg|center|500px]]
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{{PrintDiagramFile|diagram file=Underdetermined-theory-change.jpg}}
 
|Resource=Barseghyan (2015)
 
|Resource=Barseghyan (2015)
 
}}
 
}}
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|Accepted From Day=1
 
|Accepted From Day=1
 
|Accepted From Approximate=No
 
|Accepted From Approximate=No
|Acceptance Indicators=The law became ''de facto'' accepted by the community at the time together with the whole [[The Theory of Scientific Change|theory of scientific change]].
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|Acceptance Indicators=The theorem became ''de facto'' accepted by the community at the time together with the whole [[The Theory of Scientific Change|theory of scientific change]].
 
|Still Accepted=Yes
 
|Still Accepted=Yes
 
|Accepted Until Approximate=No
 
|Accepted Until Approximate=No
 
}}
 
}}

Latest revision as of 14:40, 28 September 2016

This is an answer to the question Determinism vs. Underdeterminism in Scientific Change that states "The process of theory change is not necessarily deterministic: there may be cases when both a theory's acceptance and its unacceptance are equally possible."

Underdetermined-theory-change-box-only.jpg

Underdetermined Theory Change theorum was formulated by Hakob Barseghyan in 2015.1 It is currently accepted by Scientonomy community as the best available answer to the question.

Scientonomic History

Acceptance Record

Here is the complete acceptance record of this theory:
CommunityAccepted FromAcceptance IndicatorsStill AcceptedAccepted UntilRejection Indicators
Scientonomy1 January 2016The theorem became de facto accepted by the community at the time together with the whole theory of scientific change.Yes

Question Answered

Underdetermined Theory Change theorem (Barseghyan-2015) is an attempt to answer the following question: Is the process of scientific change a strictly deterministic process? Will two unconnected communities experience a similar historical series of changes in their individual mosaics?

See Determinism vs. Underdeterminism in Scientific Change for more details.

Description

The process of theory assessment under the TSC is underdetermined for two reasons. First, only theories that are constructed are available for assessment. Whether or not a theory is ever constructed is, at least partly a matter of creativity, and is therefore outside the scope of the TSC. Second, it is at least theoretically possible that a process of theory assessment will be inconclusive. This might be because the requirements of the method employed at the time might be vague (e.g. Aristotelian requirements of "intuition schooled by experience").1p. 199-200

Underdetermined-theory-change.jpg

Reasons

No reasons are indicated for this theory.

If a reason supporting this theory is missing, please add it here.

Questions About This Theory

There are no higher-order questions concerning this theory.

If a question about this theory is missing, please add it here.

References

  1. a b  Barseghyan, Hakob. (2015) The Laws of Scientific Change. Springer.