Week 3 - Science and Psychology (Ways of Knowing)

Question 1

Epistemology

Answer 1

1. The study of knowledge and justified belief

2. A theory about the nature of knowledge and justified belief (a theory that describes a ‘way of knowing’)

Question 2

Social Science

Answer 2

A discipline that applies the scientific method to the study of human relationships and societies

Question 3

Ways of knowing

Answer 3

A term that acknowledges plural epistemologies; for example:

• Science
• Moral reasoning systems
• Indigenous traditional knowledge

Question 4

Eleven assumptions of science

Answer 4

1. Nature is Knowable
2. Good Science Should Predict
3. Knowledge is Dynamic
4. Knowledge is Generalizable
5. Rectilinear Time
6. Dualism
7. Reductionism
8. Anthropocentrism
9. The Material World is Governed by Quantification
10. Reality is Represented by Scientific Knowledge
11. Reality is best represented through logic applied to sensory experience

Question 5

Law

Answer 5

A generalization based on a history of very strong evidence from hypothesis testing (used to predict)

Question 6

Falsifiability

Answer 6

The principle that a scientific theory must make predictions that are specific enough to expose the theory to the possibility of disconfirmation

Question 7

Sample

Answer 7

a subset of those whom the researcher is interested in knowing about

Question 8

Representative sample

Answer 8

A sample whose characteristics represent important aspects of the population

Question 9

Operational definition

Answer 9

Reduces a concept to something that can be measured

Question 10

Indigenous Ways of Living in Nature - Place-Based

Answer 10

Indigenous ways of living in nature are place based - generated and applied locally - overtime, features of a place become embedded in cultural practices and identities

Question 11

Indigenous Ways of Living in Nature - Monist

Answer 11

Everything in the universe is both physical and spiritual (metaphysical) all at once

Question 12

Indigenous Ways of Living in Nature - Holistic

Answer 12

Assumes that parts of nature have meaning only in relationship to nature as a whole

Question 13

Indigenous Ways of Living in Nature - Relational

Answer 13

Relationships between people and all of creation are emphasized

Question 14

Indigenous Ways of Living in Nature - Mysterious

Answer 14

Curiosity leads to careful observation of nature - but curiosity is tempered by humility

Question 15

Indigenous Ways of Living in Nature - Dynamic

Answer 15

IWLK is neither static nor an artifact from the past. It evolves in response to current situations

Question 16

Indigenous Ways of Living in Nature - Systematically Empirical

Answer 16

IWLN includes the systematic observation of nature over long periods of time - oral tradition is powerful

Question 17

Indigenous Ways of Living in Nature - Based on Cyclical Time

Answer 17

In contrast to the European concept of rectilinear time, indigenous ways of living in nature rely on the concept of circular time

Question 18

Indigenous Ways of Living in Nature - Valid

Answer 18

“Validity has to do with the fact that First Nations people are still here today. We have survived using our own knowledge systems”

Question 19

Indigenous Ways of Living in Nature - Rational

Answer 19

The ideas just described serve as axioms to guid thinking - following such axioms is rational

Question 20

Indigenous Ways of Living in Nature - Spiritual

Answer 20

Related to the concept of monism, sacred significance is given to all things - Everything and everyone is spiritual, in that it has spirit