Epistemology and Levels of Discourse

Abstract

In this chapter I begin the task of developing a framework with which to understand the relationship between different levels of discourse and activity within the social sciences of sociology and social psychology. Ultimately, my purpose is to place realism within the stratified discursive elements of social science. Realism must be able to situate itself in this stratified context in order that its interventions and prescriptions will be firmly anchored in the complex interweavings of epistemological, ontological, theoretical and methodological practices of social science as it is presently constituted. It is in relation to this framework that I shall later assess the validity claims of realism. In what follows I begin by indicating the importance of the epistemological debate between empiricism and rationalism, but I will reserve a more detailed discussion of these issues until chapter 3. After outlining the contours of this debate I will define what I mean by ‘discourse’ and ‘levels of discourse’, before going on to sketch out other discursive levels that are of importance in situating realism in relation to other discourses.