Justifying Transcultural International Studies

Year 2014, Volume: 19 Issue: 1, 135 - 151, 01.04.2014

Gavan Duffy

Abstract

This essay endeavours to justify a transcultural approach to international studies by showing that contemporary Western approaches to the theory of knowledge epistemology demand it. Both sophisticated falsificationism and pragmatic realism or pragmatism require that scientific truth-claims be redeemed discursively in the community of scientific experts. Owing to special features of social science, the claims to be redeemed include claims pertaining to meaning and intention. Because in international studies these claims rely on culturally sensitive interpretations, the discipline itself must assume a multicultural character in its institutions and practises, particularly in its practises of inquiry

Keywords

Transcultural studies, epistemology, falsificationism, pragmatism, inquiry

References

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