The Fundamental Question Underlying Scientific Knowledge since the Age of Enlightenment: Idealism versus Materialism Debate and the Dialectical Method

Abstract

It appears that where knowledge about reality originates from and how one can reach that knowledge is a topic to be discussed within philosophy. On the other hand, scientists who are doing research in social sciences are, either knowingly or unknowingly, producing knowledge within Idealism and Materialism, which are two paradigms searching for an answer to this question. The main distinction in the method used to reach knowledge, except for the ones in these two paradigms and their internal derivatives, emerges according to whether a dialectical approach is utilized, and this distinction is the main determiner of whether knowledge is scientific or not. The aim of this study is to analyze the general inclinations of the idealist-materialist distinction in social sciences and the role of the dialectical approach used in this process in line with the institutions that have stood out from the Age of Enlightenment up to this date. The study also aims to criticize the consequences of transformations in capitalist accumulation model throughout 1900s and their effects on theoretical approaches which become distant to scientific understanding and define reality just in accordance with human consciousness or post-human social network system.

Keywords

Hegel, Marx, Philosophy, Entity, Consciousness, Postmodernism

Citation

Altuntaş, Ekin Oyan, “The Fundamental Question Underlying Scientific Knowledge since the Age of Enlightenment: Idealism versus Materialism Debate and the Dialectical Method”, International Relations, Volume 12, Issue 47, pp. 27-43.

Affiliations

• Ekin Oyan ALTUNTAŞ, Assist. Prof. Dr., Abant Izzet Baysal University, Department of International Relations