Discipline (Patton-Al-Zayadi-2021)
This is a definition of Discipline that states "A discipline is characterized by (1) a non-empty set of core questions Q and (2) the delineating theory stating that Q are the core questions of the discipline."
This definition of Discipline was formulated by Paul Patton and Cyrus Al-Zayadi in 2021.1 It is currently accepted by Scientonomy community as the best available definition of the term.
Contents
Scientonomic History
Acceptance Record
Community | Accepted From | Acceptance Indicators | Still Accepted | Accepted Until | Rejection Indicators |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Scientonomy | 21 February 2024 | The definition became accepted as a result of the acceptance of the respective modification. | Yes |
Suggestions To Accept
Here are all the modifications where the acceptance of this definition has been suggested:
Modification | Community | Date Suggested | Summary | Date Assessed | Verdict | Verdict Rationale |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sciento-2021-0006 | Scientonomy | 1 August 2021 | Accept new definitions of subquestion, core question, core theory, discipline, delineating theory, subdiscipline, and discipline acceptance. | 21 February 2024 | Accepted | Prior to the 2024 workshop, Hakob Barseghyan commented on the encyclopedia indicating his support for accepting this modification and noted its potential to underpin further work on discipline dynamics. In fact, a significant amount of observational scientonomy work has been carried out in the past few years (including the paper on the rejection of alchemy by Friesen and Patton (2023),2 as well as some more recent papers) that presupposes the acceptance of these definitions, despite the fact that the modification containing them formally remains open. There was very little discussion about the modification, beyond raising points for the community to look forward to in the future, like a brief discussion between Jamie Shaw and Paul Patton about the need for more research on the difference between disciplines and disciplinary communities. The modification was accepted unanimously with 18 votes. |
Question Answered
Discipline (Patton-Al-Zayadi-2021) is an attempt to answer the following question: What is discipline? How should it be defined?
See Discipline for more details.
Description
A discipline is characterized by a non-empty set of core questions Q and a delineating theory stating that Q are the core questions of the discipline.1
The scientific mosaic consists of theories and questions.3456 A set of core questions serves to identify a discipline with a larger set of questions and theories within the mosaic. These core questions are judged by some agent to be related to one another, essential to a discipline, and definitive of its boundaries. A discipline typically, of course, includes a much larger number of questions and theories. A set of core questions suffices to identify these because of the way in which questions and theories are related to one another. Questions form hierarchies, with more specific questions being subquestions to more general questions in these hierarchies. Theories also find a place in these hierarchies, since each theory is an attempt to answer a certain question, and each question presupposes certain theories. Because of such hierarchical relations, it is possible for a set of core questions to identify the entire set of questions and theories contained within a discipline.
In order for some set of core questions Q to exist within the mosaic, it must be understood as a theory. This theory is called a delineating theory.
Reasons
No reasons are indicated for this definition.
If a reason supporting this definition is missing, please add it here.
Questions About This Definition
There are no higher-order questions concerning this definition.
If a question about this definition is missing, please add it here.
References
- a b Patton, Paul and Al-Zayadi, Cyrus. (2021) Disciplines in the Scientonomic Ontology. Scientonomy 4, 59-85. Retrieved from https://scientojournal.com/index.php/scientonomy/article/view/37123.
- ^ Friesen, Izzy and Patton, Paul. (2023) Discipline Dynamics of Chymistry and Rejection of Alchemy. Scientonomy 5, 93-110. Retrieved from https://scientojournal.com/index.php/scientonomy/article/view/42268.
- ^ Barseghyan, Hakob. (2015) The Laws of Scientific Change. Springer.
- ^ Barseghyan, Hakob. (2018) Redrafting the Ontology of Scientific Change. Scientonomy 2, 13-38. Retrieved from https://scientojournal.com/index.php/scientonomy/article/view/31032.
- ^ Rawleigh, William. (2018) The Status of Questions in the Ontology of Scientific Change. Scientonomy 2, 1-12. Retrieved from https://scientojournal.com/index.php/scientonomy/article/view/29651.
- ^ Sebastien, Zoe. (2016) The Status of Normative Propositions in the Theory of Scientific Change. Scientonomy 1, 1-9. Retrieved from https://www.scientojournal.com/index.php/scientonomy/article/view/26947.