tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10721624.post3454528928236285121..comments2023-10-30T12:26:15.822+01:00Comments on Research as a Second Language: An Empirical QuestionThomashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858865501469168339noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10721624.post-28293442476491084772015-03-04T15:32:35.217+01:002015-03-04T15:32:35.217+01:00Yes! You get me thinking about the different "...Yes! You get me thinking about the different "foils" we use in the standard, academic conceptual tool-kit. We can distinguish our "theoretical" pursuits from either our <a href="http://secondlanguage.blogspot.dk/2013/04/our-theoretical-others.html" rel="nofollow">"practical" or our "empirical"</a> ones. And we can distinguish our "empirical" concerns from either our "normative" or our "transcendental" ones.<br /><br />The problems arise when try to so these things independently of each other. I.e., when we begin to eschew theoretical questions in favour of the empirical ones. Pure theory is, what?, mathematics? Pure empiricism is literature. If it's anything at all.<br /><br />That said, 15 years ago there were moments when I argued against the very idea of theory. I know better now.Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04858865501469168339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10721624.post-24530175980630162332015-03-04T15:04:55.704+01:002015-03-04T15:04:55.704+01:00When I was doing my PhD 35 years ago in applied ec...When I was doing my PhD 35 years ago in applied economics, we were "trained" (indoctrinated?) in empirical research methods. Nobody ever said, "Well, that's a theoretical question!" There was (is?) no such thing. Theory existed to guide empirical research to get answers.<br /><br />You can imagine, Thomas, how distant I and my colleagues were from ontology, epistemology, and a proper philosophy of science.<br /><br />But now, when I here someone resort to "That's an empirical question", my suspicions are raised that the protesting party has a weak, untested theoretical claim that they (rightly) do not expect to stand up to scrutiny. Wouldn't a social epistemologist always ask the protesting party how they know what they know?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com