editor
245
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Theory Rejection theorem (Barseghyan-2015) (view source)
Revision as of 18:56, 13 March 2018
, 18:56, 13 March 2018no edit summary
|Description=According to '''the theory rejection theorem''', a [[Theory|theory]] becomes '''rejected''' only when other theories that are incompatible with the theory become accepted. By the [[The First Law (Barseghyan-2015)|First Law]] for theories, an accepted theory will remain accepted until it is replaced by other theories. By the [[The Zeroth Law (Harder-2015)|Zeroth Law,]] the elements of the [[Scientific Mosaic|scientific mosaic]] must be compatible with one another. Thus, a theory can only become rejected when it is replaced by an incompatible theory or theories.[[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)|p. 167-172]]
{{PrintDiagramFile|diagram file=theory-rejection-theorem.jpg}}
It is important to note that the rejection of the axioms of a theory does not necessarily lead to the rejection of its theorems. The theorems may retain their place in the scientific mosaic after the axioms from which they are derived get rejected. Each theorem is assessed on an "individual basis by its compatibility with the propositions of the newly accepted theory."[[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)|p. 168]] If it turns out that a theorem or theorems are compatible with the propositions of the newly accepted theory, they remain in the scientific mosaic. Conversely, if the theorems are incompatible with the propositions of the newly accepted theory, they become rejected as per the theory rejection theorem.
The theory rejection theorem has another important implication. A theory can become rejected not only when replaced by theories of its own discipline, but by theories of other disciplines as well. Normally, we think that a physical theory becomes rejected when a new theory physical theory that is incompatible with the old one becomes accepted. It is possible that the physical theory becomes rejected, because a new chemical or biological theory that is incompatible with the physical theory becomes accepted.[[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)|p. 171]]
|Resource=Barseghyan (2015)
|Page Status=Needs Editing
