Quote:
Originally Posted by arthur  ......what an 'arena theory' is?
arthur. |
I read the term "arena theory" in a book about Superstring and Theory-of-Everything.
I think it is something like an "umbrella theory" or a "nice collection of theories".
I agreed that TOE is an "arena theory" simply because of the following reasons:
1) As in p.139 of Multiple Views of Participatory Design by Henry Sanoff
http://jfa.arch.metu.edu.tr/archive/..._2/131_143.pdf , "On the grounds of equal participation and the development of consensus, Connolly (1969) coined ‘the arena theory’, ......This theory advocates the exchange of expert and experiential knowledge. The assumption of the arena theory is that there is at least one agreeable outcome to which all parties come to a consensus. However, there must be a willingness of groups to accommodate one another."
(consensus is somewhat similar to peer review or monitor thru moderators)
2) TOE cannot be a single idea or a short theory.
It is better to be supported by a group of theories (with established partial truths) while TOE points out the direction, the framework, etc.
TOE then behaves as a platform to absorb those nice preTOE theories and to build future theories.
Best Regards. Bottomlander