From Methodological Authoritarianism to Epistemic Realism: Multidisciplinary Research Paradigms and the Post-modern Turn

From Methodological Authoritarianism to Epistemic Realism: Multidisciplinary Research Paradigms and the Post-modern Turn

Kizito Michael George

Issue: Vol.5 No.16 Issue Article 3 pp.2722 – 2733
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.20245163 | Published online 4th December, 2024
© 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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ABSTRACT

The 20^th century was characterized by a radical paradigm shift from modernism to postmodernism. Postmodernism rejected the stances of objectivism, universalism and the construction of meta-narratives that were evident in the modern epoch. Postmodernism re-affirms subjectivism, perspectivism and particularism in knowledge attribution, acquisition and justification. Postmodernism therefore dethrones positivism, radical empiricism and all their objectivistic scientific edifices. Post-modernism has its roots in post-colonialism, de-colonialism and the agitations for racial and gender justice. This academic masterpiece used critical historical analysis, critical hermeneutics, decolonial and postcolonial criticism to situate postmodernism as an emancipatory philosophy of method that safeguards marginalized modes of knowledge in the South from the epistemicide of Western Positivism. The paper analytically illuminated that postmodern epistemological ethos leads to the emergence of post-positivism in the natural sciences and interpretivism in the humanities and social sciences by propagating deconstructionist and emancipatory multi-disciplinary methodologies such as critical discourse analysis, phenomenological interpretation, critical race theory and critical gender theory. This paper further argued that multi-disciplinarity and trans-disciplinarity are inevitable constellations of the eminent emergency of the postmodern epoch. The paper adds to knowledge by painstakingly contending that postmodernism entrenches situated knowledge and multidisciplinary methodologies that are equally valid, reliable, cogent and credible.

Keywords: Methodology, Realism, Authoritarianism, Multidisciplinary, Postmodernism

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ABOUT AUTHOR(S)

Dr. Kizito Michael George is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Religious Studies and Philosophy at Kyambogo University. He holds a Master of Philosophy Degree in Gender and Development from the University of Bergen (Norway) and obtained a PhD in Philosophy from Makerere University. Dr. Kizito heads the Philosophy section at KYU and is a member of the American Philosophy Association (APA), African Philosophy Society (APS), and International Development Ethics Association (IDEA). His research interests include; the philosophy of method, human rights, jurisprudence, development ethics, Pan-Africanism, Poverty Eradication, gender, and African Philosophy.

Acknowledgements
The publication of this article was sponsored by Kyambogo University Research Grants and Publications Committee.

TO CITE ARTICLE

George, Kizito Michael. “From Methodological Authoritarianism to Epistemic Realism: Multidisciplinary Research Paradigms and the Post-modern Turn ,” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 5, no.16 (2024):2722 – 2733. https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.20245163