IDST 2000Y Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Inductive Reasoning, Scientific Method, Washington Consensus
4 Dec 2017
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Document Summary
A branch of metaphysics concerned with the nature and relations of being. A particular theory about the nature of being or the kinds of things that have existence. In discussions of theory and knowledge, quite simply: Epistemology (how do we know what we know?) Universalizing meta or grand theory: (e. g. marxism, neoclassical economics, darwinian evolution) Variations on/or qualified" grand theory (e. g. world systems theory, institutionalism, dependency theories, monetarism) Assumes research can be objective, that universal truth can be studied in small isolated buts so that knowledge is fixed and cumulative. The human world is organized by structural relations, generally of power: class structure, gender relations, race relations, the wage reaction etc. Looks for essential relations (or structure) of a research object and then for contingencies. Does not privilege either qualitative of quantitative data. Tends to use deductive reasoning: post-structuralist. Sees the world as a messier place than those who believe in the scientific method.
