CHANGING THE THEORY OF THEORY CHANGE - REPLY TO MY CRITICS

'Changing the Theory of Theory Change: Towards a Computational Approac h' (Tennant [1994]; henceforth CTTC) claimed that the AGM postulate of recovery is false, and that AGM contractions of theories can be more than minimally mutilating. It also described an alternative, computati onal method for contracting theories, called the Staining Algorithm. M akinson [1995] and Hansson and Rott [1995] criticized CTTC's arguments against AGM-theory, and its specific proposals for an alternative, co mputational approach. This paper replies as comprehensively as space a llows.