What is good / poor knowledge

Knowledge- Skill, understanding or information about something, which person gets by

experience or study.


Philosophy of Science is the study of the assumptions, foundations, and implications

of natural science.

It asks questions like: "What is science?", "What are the aims of science" and "How ought we
interpret the results of science?".

Epistemology is the investigation of the nature of knowledge itself. Its study focuses on our
means for acquiring knowledge and how we can differentiate between truth and falsehood.

Modern epistemology generally involves a debate between Rationalism and Empiricism.

Rationalists believe that knowledge is acquired through the use of reason, while Empiricists
assert that knowledge is gained through experiences.

Epistemology Is Important to understand how and why we think, in other words, how we
acquire knowledge, how we rely upon our senses, and how we develop concepts in our
minds.

What can we know?

How can we know it?
Why do we know some things, but not others?
How do we acquire knowledge?
Is knowledge possible?
Can knowledge be certain?
Why do we believe certain claims and not others?

Two poles of Epistemological positions

Positivists believe that the world is external and that there is a single objective reality.
Positivist researchers remain detached from the participants of the research by creating a
distance, which is important in remaining emotionally neutral to make clear distinctions
between reason and feeling. Positivist researchers seek objectivity and use consistently
rational and logical approaches to research.
Next in the research onion is the positivism. Positivism comes up with the research questions
and hypotheses that you can test. With positivism, you can find the explanations measuring
the accepted knowledge of the world. An example of it is the law of gravity.
It is the type of body of research that other researchers can also take to find the same
outcome. Here, you give importance to get the quantitative results. It may lend you to
statistical analysis.

Interpretivists believe the reality is multiple and relative. The researcher remains open to
new knowledge throughout the study and lets it develop with the help of informants. The use
of such an emergent and collaborative approach is consistent with the interpretivist belief that
humans have the ability to adapt, and that no one can gain prior knowledge of time and
context bound social realities.
Interpretivism helps you in interpreting how people participate in the social and cultural life. In
other words, you can learn what people understand about their own and others’ actions.
It can help you in understand a culture. Furthermore, you can also learn about the cultural
existence and change through learning about the ideas and valuables. Some meanings may
also prove helpful for you in the same.

Therefore, the goal of interpretivist research is to understand and interpret the meanings in
human behavior rather than to generalize and predict causes and effects. For an interpretivist
researcher, it is important to understand motives, meanings, reasons and other subjective
experiences which are time and context bound.

Important Texts on Epistemology

Meditations, by Rene Descartes

Treatise on Human Nature, by David Hume
Critique of Pure Reason, by Immanuel Kant
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, by John Locke
 Ontology is the study of being. It focuses on several related questions

What things exist?

What categories do they belong to?
Is there such a thing as objective reality?
What does the verb “to be” mean?

Metaphysics study fundamental nature of reality.

Ontology is considered as a sub-field of metaphysics.
Ontology studies the things, while Metaphysics studies the rules.

Ontology Metaphysics Epistemology

Do souls exist? What physical laws would

Are they the sort of have to be true in order for How can we know whether
things that obey souls to exist? souls exist?
physical laws?
What rules, if any, govern Can human beings ever know
Is there a God? God’s actions? whether there is a God?

Two poles of ontological positions

Objectivism
In the research onion, objectivism makes you aware of a social phenomenon. It helps
you to learn the different meanings social phenomena may have on the social actors.
For example, a sunny day is a social phenomenon. Some people may find it pleasing
and others may not.
So, through objectivism, you may learn how a social phenomenon impacts different
people.

Constructivism
Constructivism discusses the opposite of what objectivism says. It says that social
actors are responsible for creating social phenomena. Hence, you must use
constructivism philosophy if you have to research such a topic.

For example, we make laws to stop crime. People are the ones who commit crimes. So,
people are responsible for the new rules coming from time to time.

Deductive

In the deductive method, your aim is to find the answer to the question that you have at the
start of the research. Your premier objective stays to come up with the yes or no answer in
response to the research question. Your research questions may vary from statements to
informed speculation.
In the deduction process, you scan the theories to the research question. It further leads you to
gather data and ultimately the confirmation or rejection of the question. You can do the revision
of the theory. Moreover, you can often start the process again.

Inductive

If you want to create your own theory, then you use the inductive method. So, this point in the
research onion works in the opposite way of the deductive method. To put it technically, here
you focus on the working title of the theory right from the start. It means you don’t need to give
a thought to an existing theory.
The hierarchy of the research runs from research question to observation. Next come the
observation, description, analysis and you come up with your own theory in the end. Hence, it
is better for you to use inductive method for the research if your research requirements are not
big.

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I did pool together some information, but have no sati factionary answers yet. I am already in
school, so if some of you are bored at home, please come to discuss epistemology :)