Approach to the epistemology of library science as a regional study of knowledge

Abstract

This article consists of a reflection on the subjects of knowledge, philosophy of science, and knowledge theory as a means of elucidating epistemology, and especially the epistemology of librarianship, considered here as a regional study of knowledge. Knowledge is constructed when someone converts aspects of reality into “knowledge objects” in order to study them, which in turn implies that they bring something from the world of the unknown to the known, keeping in mind that knowledge is “pulsion,” and what matters most is not the final destination but the path through which one travels to construct it. This study approaches the theory of knowledge as a field that studies the many theories and discourses that explain how to know, with what instruments and what characteristics identify each of the forms of knowledge. For its part, the philosophy of science considers scientific activity and its results, and responds with how various scientific concepts have been generated, developed and accepted, as well as the nature of instruments and the type of explanations utilized. The field of epistemology is thus presented as a complex field that establishes analytical and critical links with knowledge theory and with methodological subjects and the philosophy of science; it also links the requirements of the desire to know and supports a philosophical attitude of elucidation, rigor, and reflection. Epistemology is thus presented as related to the domains of philosophy, science, and scientific methods and practice that give it validity on knowing that that it produces a science. The epistemology of librarianship is presented as a regional study, or part of the universe of knowledge, that brings with it an endogenous and intrascientific approach, that is, a continental analysis of this territory, in order to recognize and identify their own methods, objects, definitions, and concepts, research paths, social relevance and the same concept of the scientific in this region, and primarily to validate and legitimize the rational understandings that are made of reality or real world experience—above and beyond the impact and social utility of librarianship.