Twenty-first International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

Knowledge can be generated in different ways, and can appear in different forms. The purpose of this study is to point out the role of any particular ontology, epistemology, and methodology in generating a corresponding form of knowledge. This is important because the so-called “scientific knowledge,” in the mainstream academic research, is a particular form of knowledge, which is generated based on a particular ontology, epistemology, and methodology, that ignores and demotes other forms of knowledge. This is, indeed, related to the “philosophy of science.” This study argues that social theory can usefully be conceived in terms of four key paradigms: functionalist, interpretive, radical humanist, and radical structuralist. The four paradigms are founded upon different assumptions about the nature of social science and the nature of society. Each paradigm has its own ontology, epistemology, and methodology that generates its own form of knowledge which is different from the knowledge generated by each of the other paradigms. The four types of knowledge, thus generated, are equally scientific and informative; they look at the phenomenon from their certain paradigmatic viewpoint; and together they provide a broader and balanced understanding of the phenomenon under consideration.