Epistemology and knowledge organization : A discourse analysis

This Masters thesis concerns epistemology in Knowledge Organization KO, as a field of study in Library and Information Science LIS. Using a theoretical model by Birger Hjørland and foucauldian discourse analysis as springboards, this study analyses three epistemological discourses in the practice of KO. The aim of the study is to show how these discourses are constituted and demarcated in relation to KO, as well as to examine how they fit into Hjørlands model. A brief historical outline of some epistemological trends in LIS is sketched, as well as examples of how different epistemological schools influence different parts of KO, e.g. information retrieval, indexing- and classification theory. In the empirical study, three epistemological schools are examined, viz. empiricism, rationalism and pragmatism. Each school is represented by readings of representative research papers, connected to KO. The study identifies some major characteristics of each epistemological school and its research objects. This paper suggests some minor adjustments to Hjørlands model, in order to make it better fit to actual conditions. This reformation of the model includes the insertion of constructivism, and within it standpoint epistemology.Uppsatsnivå: