Lecture 2: what is knowledge? Flashcards
Explain ontology, epistemology and methodology with the use of the example of ‘the world’
Ontology: what is the world?
Epistemology: how can we know the world?
Methodology: what are tools to know the world
Explain the three types of sciences
Natural science: physics, chemistry, biology
Humanities: history, philosophy, religious studies.
Social science: sociology, politics, pshycology
Explain what the natural sciences are interested in and what knowledge is in the natural sciences?
Natural scientists are interested in universals and regularities. Less interested in concrete historical particulars. They consider categories of events instead of individual instances
Knowledge in concise formats:
* Laws of nature
* Scientific theories
* Mathematical models
What do humanities studies focus on?
- What humanity needs
- Acts that carry intentions and significance
- Historical particularity
- Cultures and cultural phenomena
They mistrust generalization and idealization.
Every event and context is unique
Their main output –> interpretations
Explain the interests and interests of knowledge related to social sciences
- In between, social scientists use both ways of reasoning.
- Human agents and institutions
- Forms and behaviour
- Rationality and rituals
- Cultures
Explain the difference between the nomothetic approach and the idiographic approach.
The nomothetic approach generalizes, develops laws, explains outcomes as result of rules and patterns. in this approach laws are established. This is a more objective way of ‘knowing’.
The ideographic approach on the other hand, highlights the event and unique elements of individual phenomena. This is more subjective. Here, you write specifically about a thing, emphasizing on specific details. The meaning of contingent gets understood.
Name pros and cons of the nomothetic approach
- Strengths: can identify similarities and structues that underlie apparently diverse cases
- Weakness: may ignore specifity of outcomes
Name pros and cons of the idiographic approach.
- Strengths: reveals differences between apparently similar cases, context sensitive knowledge
- Weakness: can be blind to general factors that constrain outcomes
What is axiology?
Values of research. Sets of what is important.
* what is right and wrong
* Ethics,
* aesthetics
1.A beach is a coastal deposition of sand and gravel particles lying between mean tide and the inland extent of the highest storm waves.
What kind of definition is this? What can you see in this?
Materialist and empiricist definition, based on direct observation.
What are social constructionalists interested in?
the norms. They base conclusions on experiences and attempt to comprehend social facts. They shift towards a more nomothetic approach.
A beach is an active part of the
morphodynamic coastal system of energy
transfers and sediment movement. As the
boundary between water and land, a beach is
the transitional area between aquatic and
terrestrial ecosystems, where continual
change creates hostile environments for
life.
This definition? empirical? phenomenological, physical? human geographical?
more Material and empirical, but relations between phenomena are established. Also physical geographical aspects are mentioned
A beach is a place that people visit
primarily for recreational purposes (e.g.
sunbathing, swimming), often in social
groups. Beaches are busiest in the
summer months, when people may travel
considerable distances to visit.
This definition? empirical? phenomenological, physical? human geographical?
From physical to human geography. Also emprically based on observable phenomena and quantitative data.
A beach is sand between your toes, the sound of the surf surging towards you, the smell and taste of
sea salt, momentary weightlessness as each wave lifts your body and rolls past, hot sunshine on your
skin, cold water. It is a place for relaxation, or for adrenaline-fuelled, surf-induced excitement; splashing
out through the shallows, watching the incoming surf, launching yourself ahead of the wave. A beach is
escape, banishing everyday pressures from your mind. For some, though, a beach is a place of fear
(eremikophobia is a fear of sand).
This definition? empirical? phenomenological, physical? human geographical?
Phenomenological. Focuses on human experience and its meaning to individuals.
A beach is a ‘liminal’ place, where normal rules – such as rules about dress – do not apply. But a beach
can also be a regulated space. Behaviour may be formally controlled by ‘safe swimming’ flags and
sun-lounger hire rules, constantly under the surveillance of lifeguards and vendors, but also informally
controlled as we conform to social expectations of what is normal. A beach is a site in which identities of
gender, health, wealth and fitness are performed, exhibited or inhibited.
What approach is this? idealist? realist? social constructionist? Positivists?
This is a social constructionist approach. Also based on experiences, but shifts from describing subjective perceptions to identifying social norms and practices. Attempts to comprehend ‘social facts’. Thus a shift from a purely idiosyncratic to a more nomothetic approach (or
somewhere in between).
