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Knowledge structures & information professionals

Knowledge structures & information professionals. Lecture 9: Social epistemology; realism vs. constructivism. Social epistemology. What social practices best advance the cause of knowledge?

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Knowledge structures & information professionals

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  1. Knowledge structures & information professionals Lecture 9: Social epistemology; realism vs. constructivism

  2. Social epistemology • What social practices best advance the cause of knowledge? • “People have interests, both intrinsic and extrinsic, in acquiring knowledge (true belief) and avoiding error. It therefore make sense to have a discipline that evaluate intellectual practices by their causal contributions to knowledge or error. The is how I conceive epistemology: as a discipline that evaluates practices along truth-lined (veritistic) dimensions. Social epistemology evaluates specially social practices along these dimensions.” (Goldman 1999, p.69)

  3. Second-hand knowledge • “it is not that we have conducted a direct test of their knowledge. Rather, we have to cite indirect tests or indexes of credibility. The situation is one in which we may be faced with a number of different people all claiming to be knowledgeable on the subject, how can we choose among them, or how can we defend our choice once made?” (Wilson, 1983; p.21).

  4. Social aspects of knowledge production • “The way a publication contributes to knowledge, if it does, is by changing the collective opinion of the specialist group. The size of a contribution is measured by the size of the change produced in the collective opinion. Producing knowledge is not something the individual can do. All one can do is make proposals to the group and hope that they will be accepted in some form. If they are, and if the proposal is accepted by the group as settling some question for the time being, then a crucial step toward a contribution of knowledge has been made.” (Wilson,1983, p.48)

  5. Social and natural sciences • Soft classification (indifferent kinds, interactive kinds) • Empathy/Verstehen • Reflexivity of modern social life

  6. Realism vs. constructivism • Realism (discovery, natural laws, progress) “there are truths out there to be discovered, truths that once discovered will form a permanent part of human knowledge.” • Constructivism in SSK (Social studied of scientific knowledge) “Reality seems capable of sustaining more than one account given of it….”

  7. Perspectival realist: Ronald Giere • “For a perspectival realist, the strongest claims a scientist can legitimately make are of a qualified, conditional form: “According to this highly confirmed theory (or reliable instrument), the world seems to be roughly such and such.” There is no way legitimately to take the further objectivist step and declare unconditionally: The theory (or instrument) provides us with a complete and literally correct picture of the world itself” (Giere, forthcoming; p. 8)

  8. The Sokal affair • Its implications on the 'gatekeeping' editorial function

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