Shirley Gregor
Abstract
Further consideration of Feyerabend's ideas has potential value for information systems research. He continues in a long and commendable tradition of the scientist as a subversive and rebel - a tradition including Galileo, Franklin, Darwin, and Einstein - and a tradition that emphasizes science as a creative human activity. Treiblmaier advances three propositions regarding Feyerabend's ideas and their potential for IS research. The first, if taken to mean that in Feyerabend's spirit of anarchy there should be ongoing questioning of our epistemological foundations, is worth supporting for a number of reasons, including the apparent hegemony of hypothetico-deductive type perspectives. The second, if meaning that in Feyerabend's spirit a variety of research approaches should be supported, is accepted in many traditional views of science. The third proposition is benign if "anything goes" as a principle means more openness and tolerance of differing and new viewpoints. However, there are issues if this stance includes strong relativism. Information systems research generates knowledge that can be applied to practical problems. We should be able to retain Feyerabend's questioning spirit, yet develop actionable knowledge that has sufficient credibility to be useful in the world.
- Avison, D., Gregor, S., & Wilson, D. (2006). Managerial IT unconsciousness. Communications of the ACM, 49(7), 88--93. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- Baggini, J. (2016). The edge of reason: A rational skeptic in an irrational world. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
- Burns, P. B., Rohrich, R. J., & Chung, K. C. (2011). The levels of evidence and their role in evidence-based medicine. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 128(1), 305--310.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Burton-Jones, A., Recker, J., Indulska, M., Green, P., & Weber, R. (2017). Assessing representation theory with a framework for pursuing success and failure. MIS Quarterly, 41(4), 1307--1333. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Denning, P. & Martell, C. (2015). Great principles of computing. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Dyson, F. J. (2006). The scientist as rebel. New York, NY: New York Review of Books.Google Scholar
- Feyerabend, P. (2010). Against method (4th ed.). London: Verso.Google Scholar
- Fischer, C., Gregor, S., & Aier, S. (2012). Forms of discovery for design knowledge, Proceedings of the European Conference on Information Systems (paper 64). Barcelona, Spain. http://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2012/64Google Scholar
- Godfrey-Smith, P. (2003). Theory and reality: An introduction to the philosophy of science. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Habermas, J. (1984). The theory of communicative action (Vol I). Boston, MA: Beacon.Google Scholar
- Hempel, C. (1966). Principles of natural science. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
- Macleod, C. (2017). John Stuart Mill. In E.N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2017/entries/mill/Google Scholar
- Mill, J. S. (1978). On liberty. E. Rapaport (Ed.). Indianapolis: Hackett. (Original work published 1859)Google Scholar
- Preston, J. (2016). Paul Feyerabend. In E.N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2016/entries/feyerabend/Google Scholar
- Schliesser, E. (2008). Hume's Newtonianism and anti-Newtonianism. In E.N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2008/entries/hume-newton/Google Scholar
- Siponen, M., & Tsohou, A. (Forthcoming). Demystifying the influential IS legends of "positivism." Journal of the Association for Information Systems. Forthcoming.Google Scholar
- Smith, K. G., & Hitt, M. A. (Eds.). (2005). Great minds in management: The process of theory development. New York, NY: Oxford University Press on Demand.Google Scholar
- Toulmin, S. E. (1958). The uses of argument. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
- Vickers, J. (2016). The problem of induction. In E.N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2016/entries/induction-problem/Google Scholar
- Weber, R. (1997). Ontological foundations of information systems. Melbourne: Coopers & Lybrand and the Accounting Association of Australia and New Zealand.Google Scholar
- Weintraub, P. (2010). The doctor who drank infectious broth, gave himself an ulcer, and solved a medical mystery. Discover. Retrieved from http://discovermagazine.com/2010/mar/07-dr-drank-broth-gave-ulcer-solved-medical-mysteryGoogle Scholar
Index Terms
- The Philosopher's Corner: The Value of Feyerabend's Anarchic Thinking for Information Systems Research
Recommendations
The Philosopher's Corner: Paul Feyerabend and the Art of Epistemological Anarchy - A Discussion of the Basic Tenets of Against Method and an Assessment of Their Potential Usefulness for the Information Systems Field
Paul Feyerabend was presumably one of the most controversial thinkers in scientific epistemology. A self-proclaimed proponent of epistemological anarchism, in his seminal book Against Method he fiercely criticized rationalist thinking, as represented by ...
The Philosopher's Corner: Questioning Assumptions in the Information Systems Discipline
A healthy characteristic of any research field is a willingness to question its own assumptions. In this essay, I discuss Treiblmaier's proposal to question the epistemological and methodological assumptions of the Information Systems field. Treiblmaier'...
The Philosopher's Corner: Pluralism and Pragmatism in the Information Systems Field: The Case of Research on Business Processes and Organizational Routine
In an effort to contribute to the recent debate around epistemological and methodological anarchism inspired by the thinking of Paul Feyerabend, we reflect on Habermas's pragmatist perspective of social science. We argue that the information systems ...
Comments