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{{Topic
|Subject=Method
|Topic Type=Descriptive
|Subfield=Dynamics
|Inherited From=
|Heritable=No
|Question Text Formula=
|Question Title Formula=
|Question=Are there any '''[[Method|methods''' ]] which are immune to change?
|Question Title=
|Predicate=static vs dynamic
|Object Type=
|Object Value True=
|History=Barseghyan[[CiteRef::Barseghyan (2015)]] picked up on the Worrall-Laudan debate and further clarified things, firstly by providing a more precise distinction, already hinted at by Worrall,[[CiteRef::Worrall (1988)]] between methods as the implicit rules employed in theory assessment on the one hand, and methodology, or the explicitly formulated rules, on the other. And secondly, by breaking the issue debated into two different questions, one empirical and pertaining to HSC (“are there any methods that have not changed over time?”) and another theoretical and pertaining to TSC (“are there any unchangeable or immune methods in principle?”). He also provided a more precise distinction of substantive and procedural methods, by asking what sorts of presuppositions they respectively make. In this order of ideas, substantive methods are those which presuppose at least one contingent proposition, while procedural methods are those which don’t presuppose any, but only necessary truths. An example of the former is the double-blind trial method and an example of the latter is the deductive acceptance method. However, specification and implementation of procedural methods depend on both the type of logical inference rules employed, as well as on the applicability of these rules to different types of propositions (true or quasi-true). In the empirical sciences, in which propositions are fallible and contingent, the thesis of fallibilism is assumed and paraconsistent logic is applied. Barseghyan suggests that the question as to whether methods change or not amounts to asking whether methods (both procedural and substantial) can be rejected or replaced, or if there are irreplaceable methods and concludes that TSC provides an answer to this question, expressed by the Dynamic Methods Theorem and the Static Procedural Methods Theorem, whereby the conclusion is reached that all substantive methods are necessarily dynamic, while all procedural methods are necessarily static.
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|Parent Topic=Mechanism of Method Rejection|Sorting Order=10000
|Page Status=Needs Editing
|Editor Notes=This is a monstrosity that needs overhaul

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