epistemology and ontology, an introduction
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EPISTEMOLOGY AND ONTOLOGY
Nick Marshall
CENTRIMCentre for Research inInnovation Management
University of Brighton
16thOctober 2013
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ONTOLOGY
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ONTOLOGYWhat is real?
[Greek: ontos = being; logia = study]
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EPISTEMOLOGY
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EPISTEMOLOGYWhat is knowledge?
[Greek: episteme = knowledge; logia = study]
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ONTOLOGY
EPISTEMOLOGY
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Why does it matter?
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What is real?
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= apple
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= apple
essentialism nominalism
materialism idealism
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Source: Striem-Amit et al. (2012)
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Experience
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The objects of sense exist only when theyare perceived
Berkeley (1710)
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Large Hadron Collider
Cost to build: 2.6 billion
Employs: 10,000 scientists
and engineers from 60
countries
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Processes and things
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for rationalism reality is ready-made and
complete from all eternity, while for pragmatism
it is still in the making, and awaits part of its
complexion from the future. On the one side the
universe is absolutely secure, on the other it is
still pursuing its adventures
James [1907]
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"It is important to keep in mind that the objectivity of theinstitutional world, however massive it may appear to the
individual, is a humanly produced, constructed objectivity The institutional world is objectivated human activity,and so is every single institution ... it is important toemphasize that the relationship between man, theproducer, and the social world, his product, is and
remains a dialectical one ... The product acts back on theproducer ... It is already possible ... to see thefundamental relationship of these three dialecticalmoments in social reality. Each of them corresponds toan essential characterization of the social world. Society
is a human product. Society is an objective reality. Manis a social product
Berger and Luckmann (1966)
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What is knowledge?
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Is it all about truth?
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... however fixed these elements of reality may be, we
still have a certain freedom in our dealings with them.
Take our sensations. That they are is undoubtedly
beyond our control; but which we attend to, note, and
make emphatic in our conclusions depends on our own
interests; and according as we lay the emphasis here or
there, quite different formulations of truth result. We
read the same facts differently ... What we say about
reality thus depends on the perspective into which we
throw it. The that of it is its own; but the whatdepends on the which; and the which depends on us.
James (1907)
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Is it all aboutgeneralisability?
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A theory of everything?
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Positivism ConstructivismGeneralization
(universal knowledge)
Contextual richness
(situated knowledge)
Validity
(truth)
Plausibility
(meaning)Reliability
(replication logic)
Transparency
(making the process
explicit)
Hypothetico-deductive(static)
Inductive/abductive(reflexive)
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What is knowledge for?
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A simple analysis
shows that for agiven angle ofunbalance thecurvature of each
winding is inverselyproportional to thesquare of the speedat which the cyclist is
proceedingPolanyi, 1958: 50
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Knowing that Knowing how
Declarative knowledge Procedural knowledge
Codified Uncodified
Explicit Tacit
Articulated Unarticulated
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Knowledge Type Description
Embodied Knowledgethat is action oriented and
likely to be only partly explicit, practicalthinking
Embedded Knowledge which resides in systemic
routines, emerges through relationships
and material resources
Embrained Knowledgethat is dependent onconceptual skills and cognitive abilities,
abstract thinking
Encultured The processof achieving shared
understanding, emerges from
interpersonal interaction
Encoded Information conveyed by signs and
symbols, explicitknowledge
Source: Blackler (1995); Sheffield (2008)
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Is the truth alwaysuseful?
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Facts and values
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$137millionEstimated cost of
redesigning fuel tank
$49million
Estimated cost of
legal claims
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Subject/Object
Subject/Subject
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If we see that knowing is not the act of anoutside spectator but of a participator inside the
natural and social scene, then the true object of
knowledge resides in the consequences of
directed action on this basis there will be as
many kinds of known objects as there are kinds
of effectively conducted operations of inquiry
which result in the consequences intended.Dewey (1929)
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the concepts of the social sciences are not
produced about an independently constituted
subject-matter, which continues regardless of
what these concepts are. The findings of the
social sciences very often enter constitutively
into the world they describe
Giddens (1984)
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Problems ofrepresentation
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Problems of observability
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Knowledge and knowing
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a theory of social practice emphasizes therelational interdependency of agent and world,
activity, meaning, cognition, learning, and
knowing. It emphasizes the inherently socially
negotiated character of meaning, and theinterested, concerned character of the thought
and action of persons-in-activity
Lave and Wenger (1991, pp. 50-51)
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when the locus of knowledge and learning issituated in practice, the focus moves to a socialtheory of action that addresses activity andpassivity, the cognitive and the emotional,
mental and sensory perception as bits andpieces of the social construction of knowledgeand of the social worlds in which practicesassume meanings and facticity.
Gherardi (2001, p.134)
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Knowing as
A social accomplishment, not just in the mind
Historically, socially and materially situated
Dynamic and temporally located
A process of inquiry driven by the urge to
overcome obstacles and breakdowns
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Communities of knowing
Paradigms (Kuhn)
Discursive practices and discursive formations
(Foucault)
Language games and forms of life (Wittgenstein)
Epistemic communities (Knorr-Cetina)
Communities of practice (Lave and Wenger)
Mangle of practice (Pickering)
Translation and obligatory passage points (Callon)
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Study ofemotions
Biological
Socialconstruction
Psychodynamics
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SUMMARY
Ontology: what we believe to be real
Epistemology: how we go about finding out what isreal; what we consider counts as knowledge
Our choices about these shape:
How we do our research
Which conversations we can (and wish to) participate in
The plausibility of our knowledge claims
How we relate to the world around us through ourresearch
Our intellectual, practical, emotional, and moralengagement with the practice of research