The story of Epistemology and Ontology

Epistemology and Ontology are two terms that may confuse a lot as a beginner in research. We will try to understand these in simple terms. 

Let us think about the findings of Isaac Newton, what we used to call as gravity. 

Can we see gravity...?

No...!

We can experience it. How did Newton come to the idea that there is gravity? Let us create a philosophical story of how Newton came up with this ides. 

Newton observed, like any others in this world, that any object he had thrown up came down. Unlike others, Newton decided to study the nature of this knowledge. 

What Newton decided here is the epistemology..., to study about the nature of the knowledge. 

Before his attempts, he must have faced a serious doubt regarding the existence of this knowledge..., the existence of gravity. This doubt must have led him to study the nature of gravity. Our doubt supporting the probability of the existence of knowledge is called ontology. Both ontology and epistemology have their roots in philosophy. While conducting research, the researcher searches the reality regarding the existence of knowledge by studying its nature. 

The observations on the nature of reality vary. Some of the philosophers think that reality is singular. In other words, there is only one reality, like earth's gravity. And it is concrete, never changes. In the case of gravity, it is 9.8 m/s. The experience of gravity will never vary from person to person. We can study the nature of this knowledge objectively. If you tend to study the nature of the knowledge objectively, as a singular reality, then you are a positivist.

Positivism highlights the importance of objectivity. It stresses the necessity to study reality, relying on the measurable and observable facts. The foundation of positivism is empiricism. Positivists are realists because they believe in singular and concrete reality. In their opinion, the aim of science is to unravel this singular and concrete reality objectively.

Post-positivism is an epistemological stance that considers the reality as critical, and not concrete. In the opinion of a post-positivist, it is impossible to study any reality as a whole because scientific tools are not capable of assessing anything without errors. In other words, the measurements we may use to understand reality will have mistakes, or they are incomplete. Hence, it is difficult to understand reality as a whole. Whatever we might have understood could be just a part of the reality. Post positivists are not ready to rely on a single method, however objective it may be, in their inquiries. In their opinion, errors can only be avoided with the aid of triangulation (observing the same phenomena through different methods). Moreover, scientists can never be purely objective because they will always be biased due to their cultural influences.

Even though positivists and post-positivists differ in their opinion on the nature of reality, they strive to generalize the truths. They always study what is common in the experience of the majority. Usually, they used to ignore the experience of the marginalized. Both these epistemological stances give importance to quantitative methodology.

If positivists and post positivists consider reality as singular..., there are others who think that reality can never be singular, because the truth is relative. It is subjective. People construct the truth based on their relative experience of reality. In other words, reality will differ from person to person. People interpret reality based on their experience of a phenomenon. This philosophical stance is called interpretivism. 

According to interpretivism, individuals are competent in constructing knowledge by interpreting reality in their way. Hence, the nature of knowledge or reality is constructionistic. The researcher is representative of these individuals. Therefore, s/he cannot be fully objective. Interpretivists are generally interested in specific contextualized issues. Their philosophical outlook is subjective. They used to study the issues of the marginalized or the oppressed. Interpretivists gives importance to qualitative methodology.

The story of the epistemology and ontology cannot be concluded without addressing the scientists who consider reality as contextual, because the components of events are pluralistic. As Buddha once noted, there is nothing static in this world. Life is a flow, and the universe flows. Hence, we have to be pragmatic in epistemology if we are to study reality.  

In the observation of pragmatists, knowledge-seeking is a process. We can try to improve our knowledge using the methods of positivists and interpretivists. The primary objective of a researcher is to make the knowledge splendid. Pragmatists may proceed their research with a mixed methodology.

We can represent the ontology and epistemology in two continuums, as given below