Authority Delegation

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.Suggested Modifications[Sciento-2016-0003]: Accept the notion of authority delegation:Authority Delegation ≡ community 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.[Sciento-2016-0004]: Provided that the preceding modification [Sciento-2016-0003] is accepted, accept the following notions of mutual and one-sided authority delegation, as subtypes of authority delegation: Mutual authority delegation ≡ communities 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.One-Sided authority delegation ≡ communities 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.