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Concepts and theories


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Concepts and theories

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Concepts

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This is a proposed framework to organize articles in Wikipedia about concepts and theories.

There are many articles in Wikipedia which have been traditionally difficult to classify in categories because they consist mainly in being ideas rather than as, for instance physical objects, or people. In the course of organizing the philosophy articles such that each branch of philosophy had subcategories covering the people, and the literature it became apparent that the remainder of articles in the main category consisted of a lot of "-isms" and abstract concepts.

In further organizing these articles a theories category was created for each branch as well. These categories have served to well to organize such articles, as the theories category which had contained hundreds of articles has been diffused to less than a couple dozen 'difficult to further classify' articles (as of 6/09).

At this stage, it has become apparent that there are some inconsistencies which have been brought into sharp relief by this process:

  • For some topics, the article is named after the "-ism" which is the theory employing a particular concept, and other times the article is named after the concept, without regard to any theories which employ it. (i.e. a category contains an article like Placebo, which itself is not a "theory", but rather is a concept employed consistent with a theory.
  • There is a great deal of category duplication, and segregation of articles due to the existence of Schools of thought, Ideologies, Philosophical movements, and Philosophical schools and traditions, and Views. This had caused some articles to be unnecessarily duplicated in some categories, and some articles which inappropriately left out of certain categories due to this wide segregation/disparity of categories. Proposed recommendations:
Theories:
Concepts:

I believe the "political," "philosophical" "religious" and "social" movements can remain as categories, and we will be better able to reserve those categories for what qualifies as a "movement" if we are able to take any that don't qualify and always find a place for them under theories.

Category tree

Concepts
Concepts by field
Abstraction
Change
Comparisons
Conceptual distinctions
Conceptual models
Principles
Symbols
Theories
Theories
Formal theories
Fringe theory
Theories of history
Law enforcement theory
Linguistic theories and hypotheses
Nursing theory
Philosophical theories
Proof theory
Realism
Scientific theories
Social theories
Theorems

Style guide

It is universally recommended in articles under category Category:Theories that some formulation of the following be used to create a consistent format:


  • Scientific: " T-ism is a [U-ist] V-ological theory in field-W which attempts to explain X phenomenon. It is based on the observation that Y events occur, which is called Z."
  • Philosophical: " T-ism is a [U-ist] V-ological theory in field-W which attempts to explain X concept. It is based on the concept that Y is the case, a concept which is called Z."
  • Religious/Spiritual: " T-ism is a [U-ist] V-ological theory in movement/religion-W which attempts to explain X concept. It is based on the belief that Y is the case, a concept which is called Z."
  • There should be an attempt to identify the theory within the category structure and vice versa.

To do

  • Philosophy nav templates organized with concepts and theories sections
  • Lists organized
  • Identify articles which are inconsistent with the format
  • Identify articles possible merges or splits. In most cases the merge should be into the -ism form of the concept, as this does not presume the existence of particular concepts which may not exist. Whereas the existence of the -ism itself is not in question.

Concepts by field

Category:Concepts

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