Open main menu

How should the theory assessment outcome inconclusive be defined?

As one of possible theory assessment outcomes, this outcome must be properly defined. Thus, what does it mean to say that a theory's assessment outcome was "inconclusive".

In the scientonomic context, this term was first used by Hakob Barseghyan in 2015. The term is currently accepted by Scientonomy community.

In Scientonomy, the accepted definition of the term is:

  • It is unclear whether or not the requirements of the method employed at the time are met.

Scientonomic History

Acceptance Record

Here is the complete acceptance record of this term (it includes all the instances when the term was accepted as a part of a community's taxonomy):
CommunityAccepted FromAcceptance IndicatorsStill AcceptedAccepted UntilRejection Indicators
Scientonomy1 January 2016That's when the first answer to the question, Outcome Inconclusive (Barseghyan-2015) became accepted, which is an indication that the question itself became accepted as legitimate.Yes

All Theories

The following definitions of the term have been suggested:
TheoryFormulationFormulated In
Outcome Inconclusive (Barseghyan-2015)An outcome of theory assessment which allows for the theory to be accepted but doesn't dictate so.2015
Outcome Inconclusive (Patton-Overgaard-Barseghyan-2017)It is unclear whether or not the requirements of the method employed at the time are met.2017
If a definition of this term is missing, please click here to add it.

Accepted Theories

The following definitions of the term have been accepted:
CommunityTheoryAccepted FromAccepted Until
ScientonomyOutcome Inconclusive (Barseghyan-2015)1 January 201629 November 2017
ScientonomyOutcome Inconclusive (Patton-Overgaard-Barseghyan-2017)29 November 2017

Suggested Modifications

Here is a list of modifications concerning this term:
Modification Community Date Suggested Summary Verdict Verdict Rationale Date Assessed
Sciento-2017-0004 Scientonomy 5 February 2017 Accept the reformulation of the second law which explicitly links theory assessment outcomes with theory acceptance/unacceptance. To that end, accept three new definitions for theory assessment outcomes (satisfied, not satisfied, and inconclusive) as well as the new ontology of theory assessment outcomes, and accept the new definition of employed method. Accepted The new formulation of the law became accepted as a result of a communal consensus. It was noted by the commentators that the "modification provides a much improved formulation of the 2nd law".c1 It was noted that the new formulation "decouples the method from acceptance outcomes" and "is needed to avoid a contradiction for cases where assessment by the method is inconclusive, but the theory is accepted".c2 It was agreed that the new law eliminates two of the major flaws of the previous formulation. First, it clearly states the relations between different assessment outcomes and the actual theory acceptance/unacceptance. Second, it clearly forbids certain conceivable courses of events and, thus, doesn't sounds like a tautology.c3 29 November 2017

Current Definition

In Scientonomy, the accepted definition of the term is Outcome Inconclusive (Patton-Overgaard-Barseghyan-2017).

Outcome Inconclusive (Patton-Overgaard-Barseghyan-2017) states: "It is unclear whether or not the requirements of the method employed at the time are met."

To say that a theory's assessment by a method produced the outcome "inconclusive" is the same as to say that the community itself couldn't tell whether the requirements of the method were conclusively met.

Ontology

Existence

There is currently no accepted view concerning the existence of outcome inconclusives.

Disjointness

No classes are currently accepted as being disjoint with this class.

Subtypes

In Scientonomy, there are currently no accepted subtypes of Outcome Inconclusive.

Supertypes

No classes are currently accepted as supertypes of an outcome inconclusive.

Associations

No associations of an outcome inconclusive are currently accepted.


If a question concerning the ontology of an outcome inconclusive is missing, please add it here.

Dynamics

If a question concerning the dynamics of an outcome inconclusive is missing, please add it here.