{ "model": { "rank": 7510, "code": "thing-q3239681", "model_id": "vr.tr.scientific-theory", "name": "scientific theory", "purpose": "Let an agent explain what a scientific theory is and how it differs from hypothesis, law and everyday usage, describe specific theories and their evidence with attribution, and support science literacy.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Information and virtual systems", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "INF", "domain": "INF.KNW", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q3239681/", "tier": 2, "score": 55, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "misidentified chemical element", "linguistic relativism", "ecological theory", "statistical associating fluid theory", "theory of evolution", "Wu–Yang dictionary", "riboceptor theory", "theory of gasocrine signaling", "theory of thermocrine signaling", "effective theory", "agathology", "Polflucht", "intelligence theory", "acid–base theory", "Bethe–Salpeter equation", "alternatives to general relativity", "superseded scientific theory", "theory of language", "political theory", "aether theories", "phyletic gradualism", "cultural evolution", "evolutionary concept", "evolutionary theory", "Charles Darwin's theory of evolution", "alternatives to evolution by natural selection", "Cultural group selection", "heavy quark effective theory", "Lux–Flood acid–base theory", "Arrhenius acid–base theory", "Extended theories of gravity", "Mechanical explanations of gravitation", "discredited hypotheses for the Cambrian explosion", "theory of imperialism", "associationalism", "coattail effect", "prohibitionism" ], "aliasCount": 37, "merged": 37, "knownIn": 55, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q3239681", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3239681", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-11T21:59:31Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 2, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q3239681", "registryId": "vr.tr.scientific-theory", "name": "scientific theory", "version": "0.2.0-wave.2", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "INF.KNW" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q3239681/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.scientific-theory", "name": "scientific theory", "purpose": "Let an agent explain what a scientific theory is and how it differs from hypothesis, law and everyday usage, describe specific theories and their evidence with attribution, and support science literacy.", "definition": "A well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural or social world, built on a body of evidence, tested hypotheses and predictive power, such as the theory of evolution, plate tectonics, quantum theory or economic and ecological theories, and distinguished from hypotheses, laws, models and from everyday use of theory as a guess; theories are revised or replaced as evidence accumulates.", "what_it_is_for": "Explanatory frameworks in science.", "affordances": [ "explain what a scientific theory is", "distinguish theory, hypothesis, law and model", "describe specific theories and evidence", "address misunderstandings" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Explanatory", "Evidence-based", "Predictive", "Revisable" ], "appearance": "Not physical; explanatory frameworks in publications.", "visual_identification": [ "Explains and predicts", "Evidence-based and tested", "A hypothesis is a testable proposal; a law is a descriptive regularity" ], "physical_properties": [], "families_and_kinds": [ "physical theories", "biological theories such as evolution", "earth and ecological theories", "social science theories", "superseded and fringe theories" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "theory", "why": "category" }, { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "scientific knowledge", "why": "category" }, { "relation": "is related to", "target": "epidemiology", "why": "a field applying theories" }, { "relation": "is related to", "target": "causes of schizophrenia", "why": "an area of competing hypotheses" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "Norms of peer review and replication", "Science education standards", "No regulation of theories themselves" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Treating theory as mere guess", "Presenting fringe claims as theories", "Overstating certainty" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "concept", "name": "Concept", "description": "What a theory is.", "rationale": "Philosophy of science.", "layers": [ { "id": "definition", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition and distinctions.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-finding", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "questions": [ { "text": "What makes an explanation a scientific theory, and how does it differ from a hypothesis, law or model?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Why does theory not mean guess in science?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "change", "name": "Change", "description": "How theories change.", "findings": [ { "id": "change-finding", "name": "Change", "description": "Change.", "questions": [ { "text": "How are theories tested, revised, superseded or retained, according to philosophers and historians of science?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "What are examples of superseded theories?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "specific", "name": "Specific", "description": "A specific theory.", "rationale": "Evidence.", "layers": [ { "id": "explain", "name": "Explain", "description": "Explaining a theory.", "findings": [ { "id": "explain-finding", "name": "Explain", "description": "Explanation.", "questions": [ { "text": "What does this theory claim, what evidence supports it, and what does it predict?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits it?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "status", "name": "Status", "description": "Scientific status.", "findings": [ { "id": "status-finding", "name": "Status", "description": "Status.", "questions": [ { "text": "How well established is this theory, and are there open questions or competing theories, with positions attributed?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "text": "Is a fringe claim being presented as a theory?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "literacy", "name": "Literacy", "description": "Public understanding.", "rationale": "Communication.", "layers": [ { "id": "misunderstand", "name": "Misunderstand", "description": "Common misunderstandings.", "findings": [ { "id": "misunderstand-finding", "name": "Misunderstand", "description": "Misunderstandings.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which public misunderstandings surround terms such as theory of evolution, and how can they be addressed?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "How should uncertainty be communicated?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "contested", "name": "Contested", "description": "Socially contested theories.", "findings": [ { "id": "contested-finding", "name": "Contested", "description": "Contested theories.", "questions": [ { "text": "Where a theory is socially or politically contested, how are scientific consensus and other positions attributed?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "text": "Which sources document consensus?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "learn", "name": "Learn", "description": "Teaching.", "rationale": "Education.", "layers": [ { "id": "teach", "name": "Teach", "description": "Teaching theories.", "findings": [ { "id": "teach-finding", "name": "Teach", "description": "Teaching.", "questions": [ { "text": "How can the nature of scientific theories be taught?", "kind": "action" }, { "text": "Which misconceptions arise?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "history", "name": "History", "description": "History of the concept.", "findings": [ { "id": "history-finding", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "questions": [ { "text": "How has the concept of scientific theory developed from natural philosophy to modern science?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which philosophers shaped it?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should each major theory be a separate entry?", "How should evidence summaries be linked?", "How should superseded theories be presented?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "discipline or field of knowledge", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a scientific theory, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain what a scientific theory is and how it differs from hypothesis, law and everyday usage, describe specific theories and their evidence with attribution, and support science literacy.", "characteristics": { "substance": "information", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "read and interpreted" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: misidentified chemical element, linguistic relativism, ecological theory, statistical associating fluid theory, theory of evolution, Wu–Yang dictionary, riboceptor theory, theory of gasocrine signaling, theory of thermocrine signaling, effective theory, agathology, Polflucht.", "37 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 55 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a scientific theory, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "content that has to be carried by something else", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "read it and act on what it says" ], "howItIsRecognised": [], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "misidentified chemical element", "linguistic relativism", "ecological theory", "statistical associating fluid theory", "theory of evolution", "Wu–Yang dictionary", "riboceptor theory", "theory of gasocrine signaling", "theory of thermocrine signaling", "effective theory", "agathology", "Polflucht" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 55 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 37 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one scientific theory from another, and a scientific theory from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a scientific theory, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a scientific theory, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a scientific theory is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a scientific theory, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a scientific theory, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a scientific theory is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a scientific theory sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a scientific theory, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a scientific theory, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a scientific theory is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a scientific theory from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a scientific theory, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a scientific theory, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a scientific theory is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a scientific theory passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a scientific theory between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a scientific theory, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a scientific theory, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a scientific theory is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a scientific theory, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a scientific theory is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a scientific theory, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a scientific theory, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a scientific theory is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "content-and-access", "name": "Content, encoding and access", "description": "What a scientific theory says, how it is encoded and who may read it.", "rationale": "An informational thing carries content that can be copied, versioned and withheld, none of which its physical carrier explains.", "layers": [ { "id": "content-and-encoding", "name": "Content and encoding", "description": "The content itself, its format and its language.", "findings": [ { "id": "content-and-format", "name": "Content, format and language", "description": "What a scientific theory contains and in what form it is held.", "questions": [ { "id": "content-and-format-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the content of a scientific theory, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "content-and-format-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the content of a scientific theory, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "content-and-format-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the content of a scientific theory is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "access-and-rights", "name": "Access, rights and retention", "description": "Who may read, copy or change it, and for how long it is kept.", "findings": [ { "id": "access-rules", "name": "Access rules and retention", "description": "The permissions attached to a scientific theory and the period it survives.", "questions": [ { "id": "access-rules-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes access to a scientific theory, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "access-rules-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about access to a scientific theory, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "access-rules-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once access to a scientific theory is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "subject-and-method", "name": "Subject matter and method", "description": "What scientific theory studies and how it establishes anything.", "rationale": "A field is identified by its questions and its methods, and those are what distinguish it from the fields next to it.", "layers": [ { "id": "subject", "name": "Subject matter", "description": "The questions it takes as its own.", "findings": [ { "id": "subject-record", "name": "Questions and objects of study", "description": "What it is about, stated so a neighbouring field can be told apart.", "questions": [ { "id": "subject-record-q01", "text": "What questions and objects does scientific theory take as its own?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "subject-record-q02", "text": "Which questions does it share with a neighbouring field, and who claims them?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "method", "name": "Method and evidence", "description": "How claims are established and what counts as evidence.", "findings": [ { "id": "method-record", "name": "Methods and standards of evidence", "description": "The methods used and what they are taken to establish.", "questions": [ { "id": "method-record-q01", "text": "By what methods does scientific theory establish claims, and what counts as sufficient evidence?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "id": "method-record-q02", "text": "What kind of claim can this field not settle, and where should an agent look instead?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "institutions-and-classification", "name": "Institutions and classification", "description": "Where scientific theory is practised and how catalogues place it.", "rationale": "The institutional footprint is the evidence that a field exists as a field rather than as a topic.", "layers": [ { "id": "institutions", "name": "Institutional markers", "description": "Societies, journals, degrees and departments.", "findings": [ { "id": "institution-record", "name": "Bodies and venues", "description": "Where the field organises itself.", "questions": [ { "id": "institution-record-q01", "text": "Which societies, journals or degrees mark scientific theory as an established field?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "id": "institution-record-q02", "text": "What would show that it is emerging or dissolving rather than established?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification", "name": "Classification schemes", "description": "Where library and research classifications put it.", "findings": [ { "id": "classification-record", "name": "Codes and their disagreements", "description": "The classification codes that place it, and where they differ.", "questions": [ { "id": "classification-record-q01", "text": "Which classification schemes place scientific theory, under what codes?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "classification-record-q02", "text": "Where do those schemes disagree about its scope?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a scientific theory came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a scientific theory and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a scientific theory, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a scientific theory, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a scientific theory is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a scientific theory is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a scientific theory, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a scientific theory, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a scientific theory is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 12, "findings": 14, "questions": 38 } } } }