Epistemology

Definition of Epistemology

The Canada social science dictionary [1] provides the following meaning of Epistemology: The study of knowledge and of how we know. All science, since it is concerned with verification and proving or disproving, must make assumptions about how we know. All science then adopts an epistemology. In sociology there has been a long debate about the sources of knowledge and this can be seen in the differences between positivism and postmodernism, or between positivism and phenomenology. For sociologists this debate is most frequently engaged over the methods to be used for learning about the world: the survey or experimental method on one side, and participant observation or using one’s own ‘member’s’ understanding to analyze conversations. See: EMPIRICISM / ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH / MEMBER / POSITIVISM / VERSTEHEN in this legal dictionary and in the world encyclopedia of law.

Epistemology: Resources

Notes and References

• Drislane, R., & Parkinson, G. (2016). (Concept of) Epistemology. Online dictionary of the social sciences. Open University of Canada