GLOSSARY OF TERMS (1)

Colonialism

Colonialism is a process through which a powerful country takes over a less powerful
country and begins to rule that country as a subordinate (colony). All the resources of the
colonized country are controlled by its colonial superior. Colonizing nations generally
dominate the resources, labour, and markets of the colonial territory, and may also impose
socio-cultural, religious and linguistic structures on the indigenous population.

Rationalism

A system of thought or attitude of mind which holds that human reason is self-sufficient and
does not need the help of divine revelation to know all that is necessary for a person's well-
being. Also the view that a priori reason can give certitude without experience or verification
of facts.

Reductionism

Reductionism can mean either-

(a) An approach to understanding the nature of complex things by reducing them to the
interactions of their parts, or to simpler or more fundamental things or

(b) A philosophical position that a complex system is nothing but the sum of its parts, and
that an account of it can be reduced to accounts of individual constituents. This can be said
of objects, phenomena, explanations, theories, and meanings.
Positivism

Positivism is an epistemological perspective and philosophy of science which holds that the
only authentic knowledge is that which is based on sense experience and positive
verification.

Positivists are guided by five principles:

1. The unity of the scientific method, i.e., the logic of inquiry is the same across all
sciences (social and natural).

2. The goal of inquiry is to explain and predict. Most positivists would also say that the
ultimate goal is to develop the law of general understanding, by discovering
necessary and sufficient conditions for any phenomenon (creating a perfect model of
it). If the law is known, we can manipulate the conditions to produce the predicted
result.

3. Scientific knowledge is testable. Research can be proved only by empirical means,

not argumentations. Research should be mostly deductive, i.e. deductive logic is used
to develop statements that can be tested (theory leads to hypothesis which in turn
leads to discovery and/or study of evidence). Research should be observable with the
human senses (arguments are not enough, sheer belief is out of the question).
Positivists should prove their research using the logic of confirmation.

4. Science does not equal common sense. Researchers must be careful not to let
common sense bias their research.

5. The relation of theory to practice – science should be as value-free as possible, and

the ultimate goal of science is to produce knowledge, regardless of any politics,
morals, or values held by those involved in the research. Science should be judged by
logic, and ideally produce universal conditionals:
Enlightenment

In the history of the western world, there was a period called, 'The Enlightenment', mostly in
the 17th century. Much was learned about the universe, nature, etc., during this time, but
more importantly, it was a time when people re-evaluated the way they felt about things
they already knew. Our whole modern way of thinking came out of this time. The idea of
democratic self-government, for instance. The idea of natural law being in force throughout
the universe, not just on earth. And the idea of 'science', i.e. that you could learn about
nature through observation, experiment, and logic, and through having an open mind.

Scientism

The term scientism can be used as a neutral term to describe the view that natural science
has authority over all other interpretations of life, such as philosophical, religious, mythical,
spiritual, or humanistic explanations, and over other fields of inquiry, such as the social
sciences. It also can imply a criticism of an actual or perceived misapplication or misuse of
the authority of science in either of two directions.

Scientific Method

Scientific method refers to a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new
knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. To be termed scientific, a
method of inquiry must be based on gathering observable, empirical and measurable
evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning
A scientific method consists of the collection of data through observation and
experimentation, and the formulation and testing of hypotheses.