No, it refers to the theory used in your paper. That is, the authoritative theory or viewpoint studied by predecessors. For example, the topic is

From the perspective of archetype, the theoretical basis of this paper is Frye's mythological archetypal criticism theory. In addition, there are formal criticism, life criticism, historical criticism, gender criticism, social criticism, psychoanalytic criticism and other theories. This is only for literature, and there are corresponding theories in other directions to support your thesis.

In a word, it is a convincing theory that can support your point of view in the paper.