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Corism
Applied to Specifying Operations Called Scientific
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2022
Extract
The theory of specifying an organization of meaning by reporting the relationship of elements of meaning to a specified central meaning bears the coined name, ‘corism’.
'Meaning’ is here used as a collective noun and its referent is assumed to be an organized body of increments of meaning rather than a mere heterogeneous aggregation. Many such organized bodies with which we are concerned in this article are called either concepts or concept structures. The specification of the theory called ‘corism’ will be expanded by an illustration in which it is applied to recording and communicating meaning as organized in selected concepts and concept structures. The selected bodies of meaning relate to ‘operations called scientific’.
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- Research Article
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- Copyright
- Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association 1946
References
Notes
1 See page 000 for discussion of suffixes.
2 There are many forms which a new convention might take to provide for flexible variations harmonious with the theory of ‘corism’. Simple situations arise in which it is sufficient to specify only the core meaning of a generalized concept. Thus, the generalized concept discussed above, whose core meaning is ‘cyclical repetitive previewing, reviewing, and respecifying of sequential operations called scientific’ might be called ‘cyclical search—c’. In this case, the suffix, ‘c’, is intended as a notice that only the core meaning is specified and that the body of associated meanings is left indefinite. Such usage of ‘c’ might well be made conventional.
When a limited special core meaning is intended, such as ‘specifying and testing an hypothesis’, the special concept might be called, ‘search cs’. In this case, the suffix, ‘cs’, might be conventionalized to indicate a concept with a special core meaning and to indicate that details of authorship and specification of meanings are reported in a note bearing the asterisk. A scheme of suffixes and notes may be adapted to the task of achieving any degree of precision in reporting the unique body and organization of meanings involved in a given communication situation. However, ultimately, provision should be made for a degree of thoroughness in reporting the individual increments of meaning in concepts and the organization of that meaning comparable to that achieved by the engineer.