Parallel-ish Theories Terminology

[BillTre]

What is it called went to different theories (or kinds of theories, apparently) overlap in their explanations over major parts of their explanatory field and you want to talk about the area of overlap in the phenomena they explain?

Classic examples:

• Newtonian physics vs. relativity, similar explanatory power until special circumstances are examined, like observing behaviors adjacent to big masses.
• Pre-Darwinan classification, vs. Post-Darwinian classification (almost identical classification of know species, based on entirely different underlying concepts), both predicted more similar things should be grouped together.

These kinds of transitions are important in the history of science.
I am interested in what would be the best term for the overlapping groups of observation, rather then the part of their explanatory field where things diverge.

My question is kind of thesaurus-istic:

if A and B are two different theoretical explanations and
A is newer and
it also covers a larger field of observations (or a large explanatory range)
if A explains the observations of B plus some other stuff, which word would be best name that relationship or or the area of explanatory overlap?
What if the relationship was among many different theoretical approaches?

Does A incorporates B?
Does A subsumes B?
Does A explains B?
Does A encompass B?
Does A absorb B?
Does A assimilate B?
Does A include B?
Does A embraces B?
Does A consolidates B?
Does A covers B?
Does A deals with B?

Some of these come from my computer thesaurus.
There may not be a perfect word, but several choices, preferred for different reasons, thus no obvious answer.

 

[fresh_42]

I am interested in what would be the best term for the overlapping groups of observation, rather then the part of their explanatory field where things diverge.

I have indeed heard of converging theories, points of view, or explanations. But converging was the verb.

 

[Wrichik Basu]

if A and B are two different theoretical explanations and
A is newer and
it also covers a larger field of observations (or a large explanatory range)
if A explains the observations of B plus some other stuff, which word would be best name that relationship or or the area of explanatory overlap?
What if the relationship was among many different theoretical approaches?

In physics, if you consider, e.g., relativity and Newton's laws, you may say that Newton's laws are a special case of SR, or you may say SR covers a broader range of velocities, and it reduces to Newton's laws when ##v \ll c##. I don't know if this terminology will be appropriate for the example you gave in biology.

 

[DrGreg]

In physics, if you consider, e.g., relativity and Newton's laws, you may say that Newton's laws are a special case of SR, or you may say SR covers a broader range of velocities, and it reduces to Newton's laws when ##v \ll c##. I don't know if this terminology will be appropriate for the example you gave in biology.

You might also say that Newton's laws approximate special relativity (under the appropriate conditions).

 

[Hornbein]

I'd go with subsumes.