Traditional Epistemology Research Articles

Political Epistemology without Apologies

AbstractPolitical epistemology has become a popular field of research in recent years. It sets itself the ambitious task to intertwine epistemology with social and political theory in order to do justice to the relationships between truth and politics, or reason and power. Yet many contributions either expand arguments and concepts from traditional epistemology to political phenomena or use existing theories and frameworks from social and political theory to address the politics of epistemological questions. The former approach (prominent, e.g., in the epistemic injustice debate) leads to an epistemisation of political phenomena and concepts coupled with their de‐politicization, the latter approach (prominent, e.g., in Frankfurt School critical theory) leads to a politicization of epistemic phenomena and concepts coupled with their de‐epistemisation. Instead, it is argued that political epistemology requires reworking even basic concepts, due to its three foundational commitments: It is committed to the claim that socio‐material conditions of existence matter epistemically (minimal materialism), to the self‐reflection of the socio‐material conditions of political epistemology's own arguments and theories (radical self‐reflexivity), and to a specific form of epistemic humility (epistemic non‐sovereignty). Using the notion of normativity as an exemplary problem, the article closes by highlighting the difficulty of maintaining these three commitments.

Human dignity and the pursuit of knowledge in Islamic thought: Insights from the Quran

This research examines the interplay between human dignity and the pursuit of knowledge within Islamic thought, using insights from the Quran. It explores how Islamic epistemology emphasizes the harmonious integration of divine revelation and human reason, underscoring the importance of knowledge as a key factor in both intellectual and spiritual development. By analyzing the contributions of classical Islamic scholars, such as Al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, and Al-Ghazali, alongside Western epistemological traditions, the study highlights complementary and contrasting approaches to understanding knowledge and its role in shaping ethics and governance. Furthermore, the research draws on contemporary case studies, such as the Marrakesh Declaration and Masdar City, to illustrate how Quranic principles of cooperation, justice, and environmental stewardship can inform modern societal frameworks. Ultimately, the study argues for the continued relevance of Islamic thought in addressing contemporary global challenges, emphasizing that the pursuit of knowledge not only advances scientific discovery but also promotes human dignity, justice, and societal well-being.

‘Repeat Play’: Repetition and Truth-telling in Play, Faith Healer, and Irish Monologic Theatre

This essay argues that the critical consensus concerning Brian Friel’s Faith Healer (1979) as the origin play for an Irish tradition of monologue theatre overlooks the indebtedness of Friel’s first monologue drama to Samuel Beckett’s Play (1963) and, in so doing, obfuscates Beckett’s influence in the evolution of Irish monologic theatre. Tracing the reliance of Play and Faith Healer on musical structures of variation and recurrence, the essay discerns the reach of their interrogation of dramatic storytelling and argues that the subversion of truth-telling in these key plays has exercised a profound influence on the approach to the monologue form in contemporary Irish theatre. The essay examines how Play operates a comprehensive critique of the aesthetic and epistemological traditions upon which western theatre has developed and how through its compulsion to repeat itself reduces theatre to a visceral demand for judgment. The complex forms of duplication in Faith Healer are similarly read in relation to an audience’s desire for narrative coherence and, reading the play against its Beckettian precursor, the essay demonstrates how these dramas not only problematise dramatic narrative but, more fundamentally, disrupt an audience’s relationship with theatrical presence. The essay concludes with a consideration of Play and Faith Healer as predecessors to the monologic turn in Irish theatre, arguing that the Irish monologue not only speaks back to socio-political narratives but contests theatre’s claim to truth-tell.

François Dagognet on Jean Hyppolite and the ‘Epistemology of Information’

In his contribution to Hommage à Jean Hyppolite, ‘Life and the Theory of Life According to Jean Hyppolite’, François Dagognet suggests that in order for philosophy to think the then-emerging cybernetic theory of life, it must transform from a ‘Philosophy or the Metalogic of the Concept’, into an ‘Epistemology of Information’. But while Dagognet's position in the tradition of French epistemology is clear, Hyppolite's relation to the field of epistemology is not, and his death in 1968 left his reflections both on epistemology, and on the cybernetic theory of life, underdeveloped. In this essay, then, I contrast Dagognet and Hyppolite's respective concepts of and approaches to epistemology, offering an outline of the broader philosophical project of Dagognet, who to date remains largely unknown to Anglophone scholars. I argue that Dagognet pays homage to Hyppolite not in his (Dagognet's) thesis that the genetic code renders life universally intelligible, but rather in his recognition of Hyppolite's philosophical thought as operating in a field prior to any such thesis, in the field of the question, where philosophy seeks to bring the epistemological and the ontological together in dialogue.

Naturalizing skepticism

AbstractNaturalism, construed as the idea that philosophy should be continuous with science, is a highly influential view. Its consequences for epistemology, however, are rather odd. Many believe that naturalized epistemology allows eschewing traditional skeptical challenges. This is often seen as an advantage; but it also calls into question its claim of belonging to the philosophical inquiry into knowledge. This paper argues that skeptical challenges can be stated to defy epistemic optimism within naturalized epistemology, and that there are distinctively naturalistic forms of skepticism. To that end, it outlines some assumptions underlying many attempts to naturalize epistemology. It contrasts these approaches to traditional epistemology and identifies the reasons offered by naturalistic epistemologists to dismiss traditional skeptical challenges. Next, it argues that the problem of skepticism can be sensibly stated within a naturalistic setting. Finally, it contends that there are distinctively naturalistic strategies to argue for skepticism and diagnoses the prospects of naturalism vis‐à‐vis these kinds of skeptical challenges.

Catherine Malabou’s Historical Epistemology

This article seeks to address what the work of Catherine Malabou can offer to the thinking and understanding of history. Characterizing Malabou’s intellectual project as a meditation on the relation between history and possible knowledge, it situates the philosopher’s work in the tradition of historical epistemology. It will be argued that, in its engagement with philosophical and (neuro)biological theories of plasticity and epigenesis, the historical constitution of Malabou’s philosophical system problematizes the practical and ontological difficulty behind any commitment to a historically bounded knowledge of what here will be called, following Heidegger and Foucault, ‘pure finitude’. The article concludes by suggesting that, if placed alongside the work of intellectual historian Quentin Skinner, Malabou’s historical epistemology makes a decisive and useful contribution to contemporary debates regarding historical method by underscoring the (neuro)biological rooting of persistent epistemic gaps between historical understanding and experience.

THE MALAY EPISTEMOLOGICAL BACKGROUND IN THE ISLAMIC WRITINGS OF HAMZAH FANSŪRĪ

The study of Hamzah Fansūrī’s writings has long been focused on understanding its connection to Islamic philosophy rather than its indigenous philosophical origins. The objective of this study is to identify and expose the traditional Malay epistemological background behind Hamzah Fansūrī’s writings. This objective is achieved through the evidence and analysis methods of historical linguistics on the one hand, and by judging these analytical conclusions based on Buddhist Yogācāra’s epistemology of Śrīvijaya on the other hand. Three important research findings are as follows: 1) the overall style of Hamzah Fansūrī’s writings is the logical tradition of Dignāga, 2) all the metaphors of Hamzah Fansūrī’s writings, which are of the type of pariṇāma theory, can be understood in the epistemological tradition of Vasubandhu, which was influential in the writings of Śrīvijaya from the end of the seventh century to the beginning of the eleventh century, and 3) Hamzah Fansūrī’s works are also influenced by the recent Malayu-Singapura philosophy of Saṃkhyā, mainly the distinction between śabda and katā, which is used to receive the new Islamic epistemological distinctions and traditions. In other words, to say that the Śrīvijaya period had no major impact on philosophy, and that pre-Islamic Malay mind was more aesthetic than philosophical cannot be supported by the writings of Hamzah Fansūrī.

Luso-brazilian emotional geographies

In the last two decades, there has been a significant increase in the number of journal articles, events and research projects dedicated to the topics of emotions, affect, and spatial experiences in Brazil and Portugal. In this context, collaboration between Brazilian and Portuguese geographers is also increasing, despite the different epistemological traditions of the two geographic communities. With this in mind, in this paper, we reflect about the originality of Luso-Brazilian emotional geographies by looking at three dimensions: epistemologies, research agendas, and collaboration. We focus on how the epistemological perspectives and the social concerns of Brazilian and Portuguese geographers have shaped Portuguese-speaking emotional geographies, leading to the emergence of a research area for the study of the relations between emotions and space. We conclude this paper by calling for more attention to the constraints that Luso-Brazilian emotional geographies are facing.

The Representation of People in the Ibibio Anthroponymic System: A Socio-Onomastic Investigation

In the African cultural context and beyond, personal names are not just unique forms of identifying and individuating their bearers; they also provide relevant windows that resonate with the people’s worldviews, values, and cosmology. From a socio-onomastic perspective, this article examines the representation of people and their description in the Ibibio cultural namescape, which is a source of their traditional epistemology. Personal names are symbolic linguistic resources that contain information about the Ibibio universe of meaning, where people are placed at the centre of every social relationship. Drawing on ethnographic data sourced through participant observation and semi-structured interviews with 30 participants who were name-givers, name-bearers and name-users, this study reveals that the Ibibio naming tradition provides a medium for the dissemination of its traditional cultural scripts, which capture community solidarity, support, security and a sense of belonging. This article concludes that the Ibibio anthroponymic culture reflects people as sources of empowerment. People provide the foundation for understanding the past and a path for reaching one’s life goals. This study offers significant entry points into the way the Ibibio act and react to the strength of its community and reinforces the belief that for the Ibibio, people-related regime of names is an important resource used to foster a positive sense of community and well-being.

The Dialectics of Modernity and Tradition: A Decolonial Critique of the University’s Role in Shaping Social Consciousness

Positioned at the intersection of reason and practical life, the study dissecs the university system’s dual role in upholding and contesting the hegemonic narratives of modernity. Through a dialectical analysis, the paper argues how universities have unconsciously perpetuated modern Western concepts of progress and rationality, often overshadowing traditional and indigenous ways of understanding. The article highlights the imperative for universities to undergo a decolonial transformation, integrating contemporary and traditional epistemologies in a dynamic synergy fostering a more encompassing and inclusive societal awareness. The article recommends that academic institutions actively integrate and value diverse epistemologies, challenging long-held Western-centric pedagogies for a more inclusive educational environment. Therefore, dissecting the nuanced interplay between modernity and tradition within universities, this study hopefully will contribute to a deeper understanding of decolonial processes in shaping more holistic and representative knowledge systems in academia.

What you think you know shapes what you see: How epistemology shapes curriculum, teaching, and learning

AbstractThis article describes the need for health professions educators to consider their and others’ epistemologies in their work. It introduces four categories of epistemic beliefs and discusses common topics and their relationships to epistemological traditions, including how they can conflict with one another. It also suggests a mechanism for surfacing and managing epistemological tensions.

Decolonising Fire Science by Reexamining Fire Management across Contested Landscapes: A Workshop Approach

In many landscapes worldwide, fire regimes and human–fire interactions were reorganised by colonialism and continue to be shaped by neo-colonial processes. The introduction of fire suppression policies and state-centric property-rights systems across conservation areas and the intentional erasure of Indigenous governance systems and knowledge have served to decouple Indigenous fire-dependent communities from culturally mediated fire regimes and fire-adapted landscapes. This has driven a decline in anthropogenic fires while simultaneously increasing wildfire risk where Indigenous people have been excluded, resulting in widespread social–ecological vulnerabilities. Much contemporary fire research also bears colonial legacies in its epistemological traditions, in the global geographical distribution of research institutions, and the accessibility of research outputs. We report on a two-day workshop titled ‘Fire Management Across Contested Landscapes’ convened concurrently in Nairobi, Kenya, and London, UK. The workshop formed part of a series of workshops on ‘Decolonising Fire Science’ held by the Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires, Environment and Society, UK. The workshop in Nairobi invited diverse Kenyan stakeholders to engage in participatory activities that facilitate knowledge sharing, aiming to establish an inclusive working fire network. Activities included rich pictures, world café discussions, participatory art, and the co-development of a declaration to guide fire management in Kenya. Meanwhile, in London, Leverhulme Wildfires researchers explored participatory research methodologies including rich pictures and participatory video, and developed a declaration to guide more equitable research. There were opportunities throughout the workshop for participants in Nairobi and London to engage in dialogue with one another, sharing their experiences and understandings of complex fire challenges in Kenya and globally.

Critically Discuss Some of The Ways in Which Feminist Epistemology Offers a Challenge to Certain Traditional Philosophical Approaches to Knowledge. What Might Be the Educational Implications of These Challenges?

This essay mainly depicts how feminist epistemology challenges the traditional epistemology in three aspects, which are feminist standpoint, feminist postmodernism, and feminist empiricism (Anderson,2000). The feminist standpoint represents views of women, and the knowledge of women are epistemically advantageous than those of men in many spheres of life, because women in subordinated or suppressed positions for centuries can acquire some unique viewpoints that men ignore. Therefore, women's ideas are worthy of recognition and respect, and women should be encouraged to share their thoughts and knowledge. The feminist postmodernism emphasizes that the society needs to devote much attention to the voice of women from minority, low-salary group, low social class. This theory reveals that feminist epistemologists not only strive for privileged women’s rights but also fights for the rights of minority, financially disadvantageous women. The feminist empiricism emphasizes that women’s experience as the reliable knowledge contributes to the society (Anderson,2000). However, these three above-mentioned theories challenge certain traditional philosophical approaches to knowledge, and this essay will show how this occurs. Besides, this essay will show some educational implications of these challenges.

Weaving Dreams of a World Among Worlds: T’nalak of the T’boli as an Ecological Practice

George Marshall claims that environmental advocacy does not get enough traction despite the urgency of the climate crisis because of two things. One, the human brain reacts to things that are personal, definite, visible, and urgent. Climate change does not exhibit any of these and, thus, tends to be ignored. Two, most consciousness-raising efforts take the scientific route, disseminating information using technical jargon. While it appeals to the analytic side of the brain, it does not compel action. The brain’s intuitive/emotional side must be affected to elicit an effective response to an event. Affect is achieved creatively, especially through stories with which people can identify. The modern world, however, shuns stories as pre-scientific, outmoded, and false. Using a pluriversal view where the coexistence of different but overlapping epistemologies is imaginable, this paper shows that the reactivation of marginalized knowledge systems could counter the dominance and universalism of the (Western) modern world. Traditional epistemologies, as performances, could model the intuitive and personal relationship with the environment claimed to be effective in compelling climate action. It demonstrates this through the t’nalak culture of the T’boli, one of the Indigenous Peoples of the Philippines. T’nalak-making is a sacred ritual that performs a cultural ecology that sees the world as divine, composed of spiritual beings that guard natural resources. As such, the T’boli build relationships with them by respecting and caring for the environment where these spirits dwell and rule. As the t’nalak gains wide recognition through the performance of the annual T’nalak Festival and the t’nalak itself gains protection from modern systems as an intellectual property, the t’nalak-based cultural ecology could inspire a similar attitude toward the planet to help mitigate the effect of climate change.

Feyerabend and Kuhn on Monism and Pluralism

Feyerabend had many interlocutors in his controversial career, and one of them was Kuhn. One key point of contention in their interaction was the divergence between the monism inherent in Kuhnian normal science and Feyerabend’s pluralism about the content and methodology of science and other systems of knowledge. In this paper I offer my perspective on this disagreement. After presenting Feyerabend’s critique of Kuhn, I argue that the disagreement between Kuhn and Feyerabend on this point was not as radical as it may appear. Feyerabend respected the autonomy of diverse cultural and epistemological traditions, and such traditions are often monistic within themselves, in the manner of Kuhnian normal science. On the other hand, Kuhnian revolutions require the presence of competing paradigms at least during periods of extraordinary science. I propose a pluralist position that can accommodate local monism, but ultimately recommends going beyond monism for the purpose of productive interactions between different systems of practice. Such a pluralism can incorporate the advantages of both Feyerabend’s liberal epistemology and Kuhn’s advocacy of disciplined normal science.

Decolonising Research for Justice: Ethical Imperatives and Practical Applications

This article examines coloniality of research and discusses the theoretical foundations, ethical imperatives, and practical ways for conducting decolonial research for justice. It emphasises the need to shift away from research paradigms and approaches that perpetuate coloniality to a commitment to embracing the complexities and challenges of conducting decolonial research. The article contributes to the broader discourse on decolonising knowledge production. Drawing on the works of scholars addressing disobedient and defiant research, the article advocates for transformative decolonial praxis, suggesting the need to reimagine research and displace the hegemony and dominance of Western knowledge systems, which marginalise and delegitimise other epistemological traditions. Beyond critiquing coloniality embedded within research, the article proposes practical ways to inform anti-colonial, anti-racist and anti-oppressive research practice. It argues that decolonial research requires defiance and resistance against non-relational, hierarchical, and extractive practices, involving critical examination of assumptions and values, centring non-Western voices and perspectives, dismantling coloniality and working towards social and epistemic justice in solidarity with Indigenous and other historically marginalised and oppressed groups. It calls researchers to integrate decolonial principles and frameworks into their research practices.

Relational clinical practice: A hermeneutic, enactive, intersubjective model of osteopathy

This commentary proposes a framework for considering the philosophical foundations that support osteopathic practice, using the metaphor of ‘tectonic plates’. It is argued that reflective osteopathic practitioners, and the organisations they make up, would benefit from engaging with the differing ontological and epistemological traditions that underpin healthcare theory, evidence and practice. It is proposed that having more insight into the philosophical traditions of reality (ontologies) and forms of knowledge (epistemologies), that underpin medicine and healthcare, will support ethical, reflective practice, informed by the concepts of ontic integrity and epistemic humility. We focus particularly on phenomenological ontology and epistemology, which we propose underpins the relational and embodied concept of osteopathy as hermeneutic, enactive, intersubjective healthcare, locating it within the sphere of phenomenological and enactivist theory and research.

Ludic Epistemology: What Game-Based Learning Can Teach Curriculum Studies

"Ludic epistemology" references the need for educational game studies to remediate traditional (linguistically mediated) epistemologies. Its guiding questions are about what it means to encode knowledge in the form of a game, and how we might conceive coming to know as a process of playing. In digital game studies, a theory of ludic epistemology is concerned with the distinctive demands of-and the particular constraints upon knowledge representation in the development of computer-supported game-based learning environments. Its primary theoretical questions are about the re-mediation of educational knowledge and its representation. What educational game studies does for curriculum is to radically stir things up. Its core theoretical project of formulating a "ludic epistemology" can advance epistemic inquiries into media and learning, and respond to what have become serious questions for educators about how game-based technologies for learning, and emergent digital epistemologies, reform and re-forge relations between learning and play.

Multiliteracies and multilingualism in adult migrants

The communication paradigm has been restructured by globalisation and digitalisation, affecting the way we learn and adjusting language and literacy education. As adult migrants in urban contexts become socialised in learning environments with higher cultural complexity, a dynamic and flexible multiliterate and multilingual learning environment is needed in host countries to meet different needs. Of particular interest to the implementation of multimodal literacies is the consideration of recent advances in multilingualism proposed by the London Group mandate, which merges multilingualism and literacy. The aim of this study was to empirically investigate the interrelation of multiliteracy and multilingualism by conducting a systematic review that would shed light on how to grant ideological and implementational programmes for multilingual language education policy and practice in multiliteracy contexts. The study followed the PRISMA protocol to answer three research questions: RQ1: Has previous research incorporated multilingualism / plurilingualism into multiliteracy models for studies with adult migrants? RQ2: What research methods have been used for studies with adult migrants? RQ3: What is the quality of the research methods? Our results show that multilingualism is embedded in the various models of multiliteracy. However, the epistemological tradition in the field of multilingualism does not seem to have had a significant impact on the implementation of new educational programmes that meet the needs of adult migrants. We also found that quantitative research has rarely been used, and that there is a need to raise quality standards of research in this sub-discipline by reducing bias in the processes of designing, conducting and reporting research.

Unraveling complex causal processes that affect sustainability requires more integration between empirical and modeling approaches

Scientists seek to understand the causal processes that generate sustainability problems and determine effective solutions. Yet, causal inquiry in nature-society systems is hampered by conceptual and methodological challenges that arise from nature-society interdependencies and the complex dynamics they create. Here, we demonstrate how sustainability scientists can address these challenges and make more robust causal claims through better integration between empirical analyses and process- or agent-based modeling. To illustrate how these different epistemological traditions can be integrated, we present four studies of air pollution regulation, natural resource management, and the spread of COVID-19. The studies show how integration can improve empirical estimates of causal effects, inform future research designs and data collection, enhance understanding of the complex dynamics that underlie observed temporal patterns, and elucidate causal mechanisms and the contexts in which they operate. These advances in causal understanding can help sustainability scientists develop better theories of phenomena where social and ecological processes are dynamically intertwined and prior causal knowledge and data are limited. The improved causal understanding also enhances governance by helping scientists and practitioners choose among potential interventions, decide when and how the timing of an intervention matters, and anticipate unexpected outcomes. Methodological integration, however, requires skills and efforts of all involved to learn how members of the respective other tradition think and analyze nature-society systems.