Ontology Vs Epistemology
Ontology is the attribute of things, Darwin (2007) concerned with the ‘how’ and not concerned with the ‘what’ as with epistemology. Ontology looks at how we as the observer may acquire knowledge Nel J.P, Com D. (2007)
Epistemology is the attribute of Knowledge - Darwin (2007) concerned with the study of knowledge, how to obtain it and how we can reason Nel J.P, Com D. (2007)
Determine your target first before you can gather information from your target e.g. you need to find out what and determine what the organization is i.e. your target and then you can begin to acquire information from that organization and build knowledge. Nel and Com reckon ontology precedes epistemology.
With epistemology, it requires evidence to back up it findings to show it is more that an opinion whereas with ontology, it need not be proven as it is evident, it is what already exists e.g. nature.
My View
The above has given me clarity in relation to the terms ontology and epistemology and has helped me put in perspective how this can be adopted in an organization when it comes to knowledge management.
If ontology precedes epistemology then, we do need to know ‘how’ the organization is structured, its polices and strategies in order to gather relevant information and knowledge that will help an organization’s performance for profit. For example, in the defence industry, knowledge cannot be easily shared due to the nature of the organization. A lot of the knowledge has to be kept secret and can only be shared with colleagues on the same level of security clearance. However, knowing the policy and strategy of the organization will go a long way in helping to gather information and design appropriate knowledge management facilities required by it that will in turn enhance the overall performance of the organization.
References:
Darwin, (2007). Ontological Vs Epistemological Complexity, ChilliConDarwin [On-Line] http://www.chilicondarwin.com/chilicondarwin/News/Entries/2007/6/1_Ontological_Vs._Epistemological_Complexity.html
Nel J.P. and Com D., (2007). Epistemology Vs Ontology, Mentornet [On-Line]
http://www.mentornet.co.za/files/documents/EPISTEMOLOGYVSONTOLOGY.pdf
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A lot of peeople argue which came first, epistemology or ontology. It kind of seems to me like a debate if the egg came first or the chicken. I just thought about adding some food for thought into the conversation. A lot of people believe that epistemology comes first and they seem to accept the infamous quote by René Descartes, 'cogito ergo sum' (I think therefore I am {exist}). What do you think of this statement?
ReplyDeleteHi Yemi, Within KM text that I have covered so far it seems that there are 3 schools of thought each with its own set of models. Some believe in an epistemological approach, some in the ontological and others in a hybrid combination of the two. I would agree that that careful consideration needs to be taken about the organisation before looking to a particular model but I would also say that this also heavily influenced by bias of those introducing the model in the first place. Gebert et al article has some great examples of epistemological, ontological and hybrid models in pdf format.
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