Epistemology - the Theory of Knowledge

George Matsuo Dapaah

Dr. Ed Mirielli

ITY 177

September 21, 2016

ASSIGNMENT 1

1. Epistemology is the theory of knowledge, as to the nature, source, structure, and extents to which it has application generally or with relation to a specific field (science).

1. Epistemology as related to “Value-Chain” and “Science” has to do with the knowledge acquisition part of epistemology. “Science” is definitively ‘knowledge acquisition’. Epistemology is associated with “Problem Definition” because, as every individual has (should have) certain epistemological position(s), those positions affect/define the method of observation and experimentation used in the process of problem solving.

1. -    Constructionism: It is the idea that, the mind makes up the knowledge, and that there needn’t necessarily be actual facts that the mind gathers as knowledge.

• Empiricism: It is the idea that all knowledge is gathered from what we experience, and the only factual knowledge is gained through experimentation.

• Behaviorism: It is a position that supports the use of behavior as a basis for the measure of one’s mental processes, as the physiological and anatomical counterparts cannot be accurately measured.

• Paradigm Theory: It is the idea that all knowledge that is known, and how they were acquired, are based on things universally accepted as facts, including theories and axioms.

• Positivism: It is the idea that, all valid data that can be considered to be factual can be actively measured or observed, and rejects any that cannot.

• Postmodernism: Has a skeptical view of any kind of grand theories, or universally accepted truth.

• Phenomenology: Goes contrary to behaviorism, and further asserts that even though behaviors exhibit some form of external stimuli, those behaviors could also mean what these subjects perceive these stimuli to be, making the whole study subjective and relative to situations and circumstances.

• Pragmatism: It defines the validity of a process in terms of its merits when implemented practically.

• Rationalism: It is the idea of basing opinions and beliefs on reasoning and verified knowledge, rather than emotions and religions and other factually unverifiable sources.

• Social Constructivism: It is the idea that knowledge is built within a society, and is built through interaction with other people apart from oneself.

• Systems Theory: It is a system of knowledge that attempts to understand the characteristics of an object of study by looking at the larger picture and considering all the other factors that this object of study is dependent on, in order to get a clearer picture.

1. Computer Science: It mostly has to do with a study of computer systems, and research in the field. Even though it has a factor of empiricism, it significantly bases off rationalism, since it is more likely that a computer scientist will reason out concepts rather than observe a preexisting phenomenon.

Information Technology: Information Technology also has to do with rationalism because it comprises an entire world of science which is entirely confined within the boundaries of logical reasoning, and concepts that are universally accepted to be true, and using those tools as a method of processing information.

Software Engineering: Software Engineers build off of the knowledge acquired in the field of computer science research, and has to do with the application of what is acquired through Rationalism. Therefore, it definitely has an element of rationalism, and empiricism since there are a lot of experimental stages in Software Engineering.

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