Lecture 2 - Ontology and Epistemology

Question 1

Who said the ‘there are known knowns’ quote

Answer 1

Donald Rumsfeld

Question 2

What does Ontology seek to explain?

Answer 2

What exists, and what we can say about reality.

Question 3

What are the two many questions Ontology asks?

Answer 3

1. ) Is there such a thing as (social) reality?

2. ) Is this reality external to social factors?

Question 4

Do differently scholarly traditions have different understandings about what exists?

Answer 4

Yes

Question 5

How can being from a differently scholarly tradition be an issue?

Answer 5

It can have considerable bearing on how you view the world and how you frame your questions.

Question 6

What are the two main divisions of Ontology?

Answer 6

Objectivism and Constructivism

Question 7

What does Objectivism seek to explain?

Answer 7

That social phenomena have an existence that is INDEPENDENT of social actors.

Question 8

What does Constructivism seek to explain?

Answer 8

That social phenomena are continually being made and remade by social actors . People play an active role in creating social phenomena.

Question 9

Constructivism challenges the suggestion that _____ ?

Answer 9

Things are pre-given.

Question 10

Why is the difference between objectivism and constructivism important?

Answer 10

If things (e.g. culture) are seen as objective social entities then researchers will tend to look at beliefs and values.

Whereas…

If links are seen to exist between things (e.g. Culture) and social reality, then researchers will look at people constructing these things.

Question 11

What does Epistemology seek to explain?

Answer 11

How can we know reality? Deals with the nature, origin and scope of knowledge.

Question 12

What are the two main questions that epistemology asks?

Answer 12

1. ) What should be considered acceptable knowledge in a discipline?
2. ) Can the social world be studied according to the same principles as Natural Science?

Question 13

What are the two different strands in Epistemology?

Answer 13

Positivism and Interpretivism.

Question 14

What are the 3 main values of Positivism?

Answer 14

1. ) Value free social science
2. ) Use of natural science methods
3. ) Hypothesis driven

Question 15

What are the 3 main values of Interpretivism?

Answer 15

1. ) Challenges the pervading positivist orthodoxy
2. ) Subjectivity is not only acceptable, but inevitable
3. ) Methods are more qualitative