Existence of Core Theory

Does a core theory exist?

In the scientonomic context, this question was first formulated by Paul Patton and Cyrus Al-Zayadi in 2021. The question is currently accepted as a legitimate topic for discussion by Scientonomy community. The following claim concerning the existence of Core Theory is currently accepted in Scientonomy:

• There is such a thing as a core theory.
  

Scientonomic History

Acceptance Record

Here is the complete acceptance record of this question (it includes all the instances when the question was accepted as a legitimate topic for discussion by a community):

Community	Accepted From	Acceptance Indicators	Still Accepted	Accepted Until	Rejection Indicators
Scientonomy	1 August 2021	The question of Existence of Core Theory became accepted by virtue of the acceptance of Core Theory. This is when Patton and Al-Zayadi's Disciplines in the Scientonomic Ontology that offered a definition of the term was published. This is a good indication that the question of how the term is to be defined is considered legitimate by the community.	Yes

All Theories

The following answers have been added to this encyclopedia:

Theory	Formulation	Formulated In
Core Theory Exists	There is such a thing as a core theory.	2024

To add the negative answer to the question, click here.

Accepted Theories

The following theories have been accepted as answers to this question:

Community	Theory	Accepted From	Accepted Until
Scientonomy	Core Theory Exists	21 February 2024

Suggested Modifications

Here is a list of modifications concerning this topic:

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),1 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.

Current View

In Scientonomy, the following claim concerning the existence of Core Theory is currently accepted:

• There is such a thing as a core theory.