EPISTEMOLOGY

Epistemology

Epistemology

Introduction

communal constructionism arises from epistemological place - not an explanatory idea. It is an approach to psychology (and other bodies of information) which focuses on significance and power. It focuses on meaning and power because its epistemological position dictates that significance and power are all that we really can claim to understand about.

Epistemological positions of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis and Foucauldian Discourse Analysis

It is called 'social constructionism' because it aspires to account for the ways in which phenomena are socially constructed. For example, consider the diverse buildings of 'war' which are actually in dispute. We can see that there are multiple ways of constructing what a 'war' is and what it would mean, that these are often mutually-exclusive, and that they are developed from various ideological and political interests (i.e. power). For constructionists, all phenomena are like this. (Note that this is different from a 'social theory' - it does not say that behaviour like 'aggression' can be explained by social variables; it says that 'aggression' itself is a social construct).

"Realism is the doctrine that an external world lives independently of our representations of it. Representations encompass insights, thoughts, dialect, beliefs and yearns, as well as artefacts such as pictures and charts, and so include all the ways in which we could or do know and know-how the world and ourselves. Relativism rejects this doctrine, contending that since any such external world is inaccessible to us in both standard and practice, it need not be postulated or considered." (Cromby & Nightingale, 1999, p. 6). communal constructionism has a relativist epistemology.

Semantic relativism - the meanings of phrases are specific to dialects and will not be converted without decrease of significance [e.g. litost; 'snow']. Ontological relativism - the reality of a thing (e.g. God, sorcery, individuality, addiction) is generally joined a conceptual system, ...