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Is there a single word for "a sub-component of a scientific contribution?"

English Language & Usage Asked by parrottsquawk on May 16, 2021

A fictional example for illustrative purposes:

At the 2020 Conference on Hypothetical Nonsense in 2.5 Dimensional Space (HNTPFDS 2020), Dr. Alpha B. Chi presented his 40-year monograph entitled "A General Theory of Chrono-Fizzwidgets in Pseudo-Random Cosmic Disentanglement" – a scientific contribution composed of five* _____________, each of which stands alone in its own right. His first _____________ disproves the Orbital Chronometric Dissolution Hypothesis, a highly contested hypothesis forming the basis by which the theory around anti-matter fizz widgets was previously discussed. The following four* _____________s develop the mathematics and provide the schematics for the development of a so-called chrono-fizzwidget(CF) for use in pseudo-random cosmic disentanglement. The scientific contribution comprising these five* _____________ is an achievement which will outlast his name, as the human race goes on to explore the darkest reaches of inter-cosmic chaos.

*plus or minus two

What is the most appropriate / closest word that could be used to fill in the blanks above?

*Edits:

  1. This is for my dissertation which contains thirteen "Sub-contributions", but one over-arching "contribution" which is summarized by the title.
  2. Each of the _____________ would be stand-alone abstract or theoretical concept similar to how "special relativity" and "general relativity" subsumed by the "theory of relativity".
  3. For argumentation purposes, premise, co-premise, or antecedent would also be correct. For mathematical purposes, lemmas are used to prove theorems. In engineered systems, components make the whole. My difficulty lies in finding a term which equally aptly could be used to describe theory, analysis, experimentation, as well as implementation.

2 Answers

I doubt that there is any single word that stands out from a list that includes part, section and chapter. Another possibility is division, which may be too mundane a description for the weighty writings you describe.

"Davidson Writer" favours parts

"Five Parts of Argument: Most written arguments that you fashion in your Davidson courses will include five parts: a claim, reasons in support of that claim, evidence your which those reasons rest, assumptions and core values upon which your claims and reasons hold true, and acknowledgment of alternative claims that have been or may be made."

Davidson Writer

chapter = "any of the separate parts into which a book or other piece of text is divided, usually given a number or title"

Cambridge Dictionary

section = "one of the parts that something is divided into"

Cambridge Dictionary

If the work is as important and significant as you suggest, it might be described as a set of five separate theses. Although we often think of a thesis as single body of work, there is no reason why a substantial investigation such as a 40-year monograph could not comprise the discussions of several theses, each of which could stand alone.

thesis = "the main idea, opinion, or theory of a person, group, piece of writing"

Cambridge Dictionary

Correct answer by Anton on May 16, 2021

How about advance? From Lexico:

advance: A development or improvement; ‘genuine advances in engineering techniques’

Your example:

At the 2020 Conference on Hypothetical Nonsense in 2.5 Dimensional Space (HNTPFDS 2020), Dr. Alpha B. Chi presented his 40-year monograph entitled "A General Theory of Chrono-Fizzwidgets in Pseudo-Random Cosmic Disentanglement" - a scientific contribution composed of five advances, each of which stands alone in its own right. His first advance disproves the Orbital Chronometric Dissolution Hypothesis, a highly contested hypothesis forming the basis by which the theory around anti-matter fizz widgets was previously discussed. The following four advances develop the mathematics and provide the schematics for the development of a so-called chrono-fizzwidget(CF) for use in pseudo-random cosmic disentanglement. The scientific contribution comprising these five advances is an achievement which will outlast his name, as the human race goes on to explore the darkest reaches of inter-cosmic chaos.

NOTE: One might argue that scientific contributions are subcomponents of a scientific advance rather than scientific advances being subcomponents of a scientific contribution.

Answered by Richard Kayser on May 16, 2021

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