- Aims and Scope -
The paradigm's name
The Transdisciplinary Philosophy-of-Science
Paradigm comprises a coherent system of interrelated
philosophical,
metatheoretical and
methodological frameworks for researching
individuals from different sociocultural communities and from different species. Therefore,
this system is called a paradigm.
In these frameworks, concepts, approaches and methods from various scientific disciplines are systematically integrated, further developed and complemented by novel ones
to enable applications and collaborative research that transcend
disciplinary boundaries.
Thus, unlike most paradigms, it does not indicate integration of a research
area; instead, it builds on paradigms from various disciplines and therefore
is transdisciplinary.
The paradigm's frameworks and concepts are aimed at supporting scientists to make explicit
and scrutinise the philosophical
assumptions underlying given scientific system and the metatheories,
methodologies and research practices derived from them, thus enabling
critical analyses and further developments. Therefore,
its philosophy-of-science
label (Uher,
2015a, 2015d,
2018c).
Research on individuals is
not a unified field but involves diverse sciences exploring phenomena
in individuals or in relation to individuals: the life
sciences because individuals are living organisms, the
physical sciences because non-living phenomena comprise the essential surroundings of individuals (e.g., architectural and technological
installations), the social sciences as individuals interact with other individuals, and
psychology where individuals constitute the basic ontological unit, which
awards this discipline a unique position within the sciences and
philosophy. It also involves metrology because
quantification and measurement are essential for all empirical sciences.
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Philosophy of science: Philosophical
assumptions, metatheories and methodologies
Philosophy-of-science refers to the most general level of scientific
knowledge about the making of science. It comprises the philosophical
assumptions (Collingwood) that scientists make about the nature of being and about
the basic categories of existing and becoming and their interrelations (ontology).
It also comprises fundamental notions about knowledge
and rationality, their nature, scopes, possibilities, and general bases, as
well as the distinction between justified belief and
opinion (epistemology). On the basis of the particular
philosophical presuppositions that havemade, scientists develop metatheories and
methodologies.
Metatheory is the critical analysis and taxonomic categorisation
of theories and conceptual frameworks that have provided direction to
research or were developed in a field as well as their foundations and structures.
Metatheories also denote scientists' explicit and implicit assumptions and beliefs that determine
what they consider to be objects of research in their field, what questions they ask
and what they consider facts and data about these objects.
Methodology denotes the system of principles underlying the conduct of scientific
enquiry, comprising methodological approaches and methods. Approaches
provide the theoretical underpinning of the ways in which the research questions can be explored and that make particular
research operations suited for this purpose and others not as well as explanations of what their outcomes indicate and why
(philosophy of methods).
Methods, in turn, denote the selection and construction of the specific
research practices, procedures and techniques (e.g., behaviours and
instruments) that are used to perform research operations (e.g., observing, videotaping, recording
data; Uher,
2013,
2015a).
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More information available in Publications
and Science
Blogs.
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