Hi friends!
Philosophy about Knowledge
I had an interesting discussion the other day *wink, Amy ;)* about what the truth is, which brought back some philosophical reflections from my PhD times. Let me know your take on this as well!
An epistemological world view is a set of beliefs about knowledge and knowledge acquisition.
Epistemology is the theory of knowledge.
It is concerned with the mind's relation to reality.
Your epistemology - what you believe about knowledge - affects what you accept as valid evidence and therefore what you are willing to believe.
It is so deep! Everyone has different needs for navigating and making sense out of the world and to absorb the information that is around us.
For my PhD research I had to understand my epistemology to be able to conduct a coherent research.
My worldview is based on relativist epistemology.
I believe that the truth is contextual. What is true for a certain group of people in certain circumstances - might not be true for someone else or for people in a different situation.
Hence, I find social science very subjective, but still essential. It is important to understand really well the characteristics of the research sample. For example, framework on decision making would vary if you interview men or women, when they are in 20s or 40s, if they are based in Asia or Europe etc.
Truth is context based. For me.
Modern Workplace
I have been focusing on personal productivity for a couple of years and translating my learnings into my work in the corporate world.
As a result, I have created a system and structured all my work around two types of activities:
Operations
Ongoing activities supporting business functions and measured by KPIs (Key Performance Indicators);
As manager I make sure that the team can perform business as usual: all bottlenecks and roadblocks are identified and addressed;
Projects
Activities with clear timelines, scope, stakeholders, and deliverables;
More visible and impactful;
Mostly support OKRs (Objective and Key Results);
Many of my projects are related to continuous improvement of processes, reporting, and tools. And they have long term impact on the operations.
Based on this distinction I also organize all my notes and emails.
A lot of my work is centered around doing better 'the work' - both at individual and team level.
Let me know if you want to learn more!
That’s All for Now
If today’s newsletter resonated with you or you have any comments, I would love to hear from you. Just hit reply!
Best,
Alina
Hi Alina- I'm delighted that you chose to write more on this subject after our earlier exchange. It's fascinating to consider how our worldview deeply affects how we order (construct, etc.) and respond to knowledge in our daily lives. Unlike yourself, most people are probably only dimly aware of *how* they think (if at all). But it affects everything we do.
I'd like to say that my epistemology differs radically from yours (inasmuch as I believe that there *are* truths that apply for all people and all times). The truth is (ha! pun intended) that we're all still somewhat trapped in the Cartesian model of thinking which creates an ever widening opposition between subject and object. This is evident even in your discussion of epistemology: the relation of mind (subject) to reality (object). In the 20th century, phenomenologists like Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger attempted to overcome this opposition. It is debatable whether they succeeded.
I'm just starting on my career journey in Knowledge Management. The distinction between Operations and Projects is very helpful, thank you! I look forward to more of these topics.