Delineating Theory (Patton-Al-Zayadi-2021)

This is a definition of Delineating Theory that states "A second-order theory identifying the set of core questions of a discipline."

This definition of Delineating Theory 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.

Scientonomic History

Acceptance Record

Here is the complete acceptance record of this definition:

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	Verdict	Verdict Rationale	Date Assessed
Sciento-2021-0006	Scientonomy	1 August 2021	Accept new definitions of subquestion, core question, core theory, discipline, delineating theory, subdiscipline, and discipline acceptance.	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.	21 February 2024

Question Answered

Delineating Theory (Patton-Al-Zayadi-2021) is an attempt to answer the following question: What is delineating theory? How should it be defined?

See Delineating Theory for more details.

Description

One can specify a discipline in terms of a set of its core questions. A delineating theory is a second-order theory identifying this set of core questions, and allowing it to exist as an epistemic element within the mosaic.1 For example, the delineating theory of modern physics might identify 'how do matter and energy behave?' as a core question of modern physics.

Reasons

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Questions About This Definition

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