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4 Epistemological Foundation

To carry out scientific research, you must have prior epistemological training, which
must be completed, adjusted and developed during the research process. An important
part of it is supported by the culture of the researcher.

Epistemological analysis is a process that develops before, during and after the
structuring of scientific knowledge, its center is the object of the research; The levels of
depth in knowledge allow the researcher to build on it to judge, value and transform it,
on consistent bases on a scientific level.

The consequence at the scientific level depends on the position that the researcher
assumes based on the paradigms that he has as a reference for the study of the object.
This process is part of the research process and is present in all its stages.

With respect to the content of the paradigm concept, there are various criteria. Thomas
Khun, in his work "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions", attributes various contents to
it, but in a general sense, a paradigm is understood as the theoretical-methodological
framework accepted and used by the scientific community to interpret the processes and
phenomena under investigation in the context of a specific society and era.

Paradigms constitute recognized scientific achievements that for a certain time provide
models of problems and solutions to a scientific community. They offer an approach or a
perspective, from which a particular vision of reality as a whole (philosophical
paradigms) or of certain aspects of it (disciplinary paradigms) is possible.

Each paradigm establishes rules that in turn implicitly or explicitly formulate research
paths that obey its premises, assumptions and postulates, these paths are the methods
and their procedures.

When several alternative paths or methods for research are developed in a paradigm,
the methodology of that paradigm is present.

What do philosophical paradigms contribute to the researcher to develop the

epistemology that allows him to study his object?
 An ontological conception: a way of thinking about the being and existence of reality,
a certain picture of the world and the object of its investigation.
 A gnoseological conception: a way of conceiving how the subject appropriates
reality, a set of gnoseological ideals of the knowledge process (of description,
demonstration and construction of knowledge).
 General philosophical points of view that base both the picture of the world and the
process of knowledge.
 An epistemological conception: criteria that legitimize knowledge as scientific.
 A teleological conception: which indicates the intentionality of that scientific
knowledge.

In general, philosophical paradigms base the representation of the subject of cognition,

its main features and capabilities and its relationship with the object, emphasizing the
nature of the link between the two, providing general research methods and conditioning
the approach or perspective from which the vision of the research problem, the paths to
its solution and the link between research and practice is produced.

Among the general philosophical paradigms are considered: positivism, critical

rationalism or falsificationism, hermeneutic-interpretive, dialectical-critical (highlighting
dialectical materialism), phenomenological, systemic structural and complexity theory;
These constitute the basis for the epistemological analysis of the object of the
investigations.

The materialist dialectical paradigm is the most used in research in Cuban education. Its
assumption necessarily involves the recognition of the so-called hard core of materialist
dialectics such as the Philosophy of Marxism and implies considering the unity of
dialectics, logic and the theory of knowledge.

There have been references to the quantitative and qualitative paradigm, although in the
opinion of many researchers it is inappropriate to refer to quantitative or qualitative as
paradigms; Both names refer to two ways of symbolizing or encoding information and
specifically to the procedures and techniques of data collection and analysis, but not to
epistemic models.
It is not possible to identify the epistemological bases of research with the epistemology
of a specific investigation. Epistemology has as its center the specific object of the
research, the epistemological bases provide the researcher with the perspective from
which he can reflect on the object, on his knowledge, on the results of that knowledge,
the ways to obtain it, the logic of itself, its value and its scope, in short, the criteria from
which it develops the epistemological analysis of its object.

The elaboration of an epistemology starts from the assumption of certain paradigms on

the basis of which the object is studied, determines and enables continuous adjustments
to the research design; It involves the elaboration of empirical and logical schemes of
the current, potential and future state of the object, in short, it allows the diagnosis, the
determination and application of the methods and procedures to study the object, the
obtaining and presentation of the results and the construction of the link of said results
with practice and is expressed in the final research report.

Daily knowledge and customary ways of life are incorporated into the researcher's
epistemological elaboration.

Assuming a certain paradigm does not presuppose that all its approaches are assumed,
but only those that are considered to have epistemological value in the case under
investigation. Working on research from a multiparadigmatic perspective implies
considering the epistemological value of its different elements without eclecticism and
contradictions.

When referring to the epistemological value of multiple paradigms, it is necessary to

introduce the concept of epistemological operator and take into account the critical
reworking that each researcher makes of them.

Epistemological operators are “intellectual procedures supported by logical - scientific

argumentation that promote the development of theoretical thinking... they are identified
with foundation, criticism, justification and interpretation, which in their relationship
account for the logical-dialectical analysis of the process. theoretical research”.
A broad vision allows us to consider the epistemological operator as those constitutive
elements of the processes of reality and scientific knowledge that provide the researcher
with the tools to generate new scientific knowledge and verify its scientificity; along with
the intellectual procedures developed during the research process.

Epistemological research also has within its foundation different types of knowledge
such as:

 vulgar knowledge

Called naive, direct knowledge is the way of knowing in a superficial or apparent way the
things or people around us. It is what man learns from the environment in which he
develops, it is transmitted from generation to generation.

Characteristics of vulgar knowledge:

Sensitive: although part of the knowledge is structured with what is apparent, it does not
try to seek a relationship with the facts.

Superficial: It does not delve into the process of knowing and only refers to simple sensory
observation.

Subjective: is that which is obtained through procedures with a claim to validity, using
reflection, logical reasoning and responding to an international search by which objects
are delimited and methods of inquiry are prevented.

When historically addressing the development of human thought, it is proposed that

man has tried to know reality using the interaction of various types of knowledge:

The knowledge of common sense or spontaneous or typical of popular wisdom,

which is acquired through daily experience in the world of life.

Technical knowledge consists of knowing how to do a certain activity, knowing how a

process works and operates in a certain case, knowing how a certain device or
artifact or instrument works or how to manipulate it.
 The word téchene - from which technique comes - from the Greeks had two
meanings: mode of production, poíesis and mode of discovery, of revealing the being
of things, alétheia . That is, with technique something is discovered and manifested.

 Symbolic knowledge: It is that which is acquired through aesthetic experience in

the world of art, literature and culture.

 Socio-political knowledge is built from interpersonal relationships within the

politically organized society in which the legal regulations required for harmonious
social coexistence are established.

Religious knowledge is acquired through the experience of faith in a relationship with

a Transcendent Being.

 Scientific knowledge is defined, according to the Argentine Epistemologist

Mario Bunge, as factual, rational, methodical, systematic, analytical,
explanatory, empirically verifiable, clear and precise, communicable, general,
legal, self-corrective, progressive, legal and useful knowledge. …And
according to Karl Raimund Popper, scientific knowledge is essentially
testable, falsifiable or refutable.

 Philosophical knowledge is that which investigates the essence, the

foundations and the ultimate causes of the totality of reality through reflective
and critical thinking. It requires the assumption of a reasoned stance towards
the totality of reality, according to Jean Piaget in his writing "Wisdom and
illusions of philosophy."

Approaches to the foundation of epistemological research:

Objectivism.

In metaphysics it is used as a synonym for “realism”. But also the so-called “objective
idealism”, which identifies the real and external nature of something with the thought or
activity of a universal spirit that does not depend on the subjective spirit. The latter can
only discover universal concepts but not generate them. These universals or ideas are
self-existent. This idealism would include Plato 's universals and similar positions in the
thought of Leibniz, Hegel and other authors.
In epistemology, objectivism is any doctrine that says that what is apprehended is
independent of the apprehending subject. That is, what is observed exists outside the
observer.
Relativism
There are no absolute truths, only relative ones. The truth or validity of a judgment
depends on the conditions in which it was formulated.
Skepticism: means “one who doubts and investigates” since skeptical philosophers do
not believe in an objective truth.
Inductivism: is part of the so-called scientific methods, which are steps that are followed
in an orderly manner to generate new knowledge .

Rationalist-deductive (by association, also called deductivist, theoretical or theorist,

critical rationalist): according to the first criterion, in this approach the design of abstract
systems is conceived as a product of scientific knowledge.

Positivism affirms that authentic knowledge is scientific knowledge and that such
knowledge can only arise from the affirmation of hypotheses through the scientific
method.

The epistemological bases of a research are provided by the epistemic and disciplinary
paradigms from which the researcher, in accordance with his scientific culture, focuses
on the study of his object and the epistemological operators that they provide.

The epistemological analysis of the specific object of the research is developed through
the process of critical reworking of the assumed paradigms and the substantiated
explanation of the path used by the researcher to study his object, obtain the results and
verify the veracity. of these results.