Overgaard and Loiselle (2016)

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Overgaard, Nicholas and Loiselle, Mirka. (2016) Authority Delegation. Scientonomy 1, 11-18. Retrieved from https://www.scientojournal.com/index.php/scientonomy/article/view/27065.

Title Authority Delegation
Resource Type journal article
Author(s) Nicholas Overgaard, Mirka Loiselle
Year 2016
URL https://www.scientojournal.com/index.php/scientonomy/article/view/27065
DOI 10.33137/js.v1i0.27065
Journal Scientonomy
Volume 1
Pages 11-18

Abstract

In this paper, we introduce a new concept to the field of scientonomy, that of authority delegation. Authority delegation is, in essence, a type of relation between distinct scientific communities whereby one community both recognizes another as an expert on a particular topic and will accept the theories it is told by the expert community over the same topic. Importantly, authority delegation is not a new fundamental ontological category along with theory and method. We show that authority delegation is reducible to the more basic concepts of theory and method. Furthermore, we suggest that authority delegation comes in two forms: one-sided authority delegation and mutual authority delegation.

Theories

Here are all the theories formulated in Overgaard and Loiselle (2016):

TheoryTypeFormulationFormulated In
Authority Delegation (Overgaard-Loiselle-2016)DefinitionCommunity A is said to be delegating authority over topic x to community B iff (1) community A accepts that community B is an expert on topic x and (2) community A will accept a theory on topic x if community B says so.2016
Mutual Authority Delegation (Overgaard-Loiselle-2016)DefinitionCommunities A and B are said to be in a relationship of mutual authority delegation iff community A delegates authority over topic x to community B, and community B delegates authority over topic y to community A.2016
One-sided Authority Delegation (Overgaard-Loiselle-2016)DefinitionCommunities A and B are said to be in a relationship of one-sided authority delegation iff community A delegates authority over topic x to community B, but community B doesn’t delegate any authority to community A.2016
Community Can Delegate Authority to Another Community (Loiselle-Overgaard-2016)DescriptiveA community can delegate authority to another community.2016

Suggested Modifications

Here are all the modifications suggested in Overgaard and Loiselle (2016):

  • Sciento-2016-0003: Accept the notion of authority delegation. The modification was suggested to Scientonomy community by Nicholas Overgaard and Mirka Loiselle on 7 September 2016.1 The modification was accepted on 1 February 2017. There was a community consensus that the concept of authority delegation is a significant contribution to scientonomy, as it "sheds light on the mechanism by which the more local, specialized mosaics of epistemic/scientific sub-communities gives rise to the more global scientific mosaic (of *the* Scientific Community), and all in terms of theories and methods".c1 It was also noted that the concept "has already been tacitly accepted by our community"c2 as it has been incorporated in some recent scientonomic research. One further suggestion was to continue refining the concept of authority delegation by focusing on cases "where the delegating community applies its own additional criteria before accepting what the experts tell them".c3
  • Sciento-2016-0004: Provided that the notion of authority delegation is accepted, accept the notions of mutual authority delegation and one-sided authority delegation as subtypes of authority delegation. The modification was suggested to Scientonomy community by Nicholas Overgaard and Mirka Loiselle on 7 September 2016.1 The modification was accepted on 2 February 2018. Following a period of discussion, it was finally agreed that "the current definitions of authority delegation, mutual authority delegation, and one-sided authority delegation, despite their problems, are currently the best available such definitions".c1 It was noted that these definitions don't take into the account the possibility of conditional authority delegation, where community A is prepared to accept the findings of another community on a certain topic only if these findings also satisfy some additional criteria imposed by community A. It was argued that there might be cases where a community's reliance on the findings of another community might be "conditional in ways that the current authority delegation definition is too restrictive to encompass".c2 The idea of conditional delegation was found pursuit-worhty.c3 It was also stressed that these definitions are only the first step towards a deeper understanding of the mechanism of authority delegation. Scientonomists were advised to pursue the idea of deducing "theorems concerning theory acceptance and method employment in delegating mosaics".c4


References

  1. a b  Overgaard, Nicholas and Loiselle, Mirka. (2016) Authority Delegation. Scientonomy 1, 11-18. Retrieved from https://www.scientojournal.com/index.php/scientonomy/article/view/27065.