BROKEN IMAGES 83
to be less effective as an epistemological basis for study. By contrast, drawing on the
work of Foucault and Kuhn, this article highlights the ongoing value post-positivism
has as an epistemological foundation for research design.
Although Comte, Foucault and Kuhn rely heavily on their various reflections on
historical epochs, the crucial distinction between the positivism of Comte and the
post-positivism of the others is their diverging perspectives regarding systems. Where
Comte’s theory assumes faith in the ability of external structures to correct behaviour,
Foucault and Kuhn are both critical of the assumed neutrality of governing systems; 7
thus they seek to expose obfuscated sites of struggle against such systems. While
beginning from positions that are arguably more similar than often acknowledged, the
contrasting postures of positivist and post-positivist beliefs produce radically different
approaches to research. It is the supposition of this paper that it is the ‘broken images’
of the post-positivist - that societal structures are complex and fallible – which can
sharpen our understanding of the world we inhabit and our place within it.
Bibliography
Adcock, R., Bevire, M. and Stimson, S. (eds.) (2007) Modern Political Science:
Anglo-American Exchanges Since 1880. Princeton University Press.
Alcoff,
L.
M.
(2015)
Foucault’s
Philosophy
of
Science:
Structures
of
Truth/Structures of Power. Available at: h ttp://www.alcoff.com/content/foucphi.html
(Accessed 9 March 2016).
Benton, T. and Craib, I. (2001) Philosophy of Social Science: the Philosophical
Foundations of Social Thought. New York: Palgrave.
Here, ‘governing systems’ refers to the power exercised through the myriad of institutions that exist
in contemporary societies (like prisons, hospitals, schools, welfare systems, social care and structures
of state welfare) as well as power exercised through formal offices of government; see Foucault (1977)
for further discussion.
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