{"id":198,"date":"2021-09-19T20:16:36","date_gmt":"2021-09-20T00:16:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/researchmethods-fall2021\/?p=198"},"modified":"2021-09-19T20:34:51","modified_gmt":"2021-09-20T00:34:51","slug":"epistemological-crisis-research-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/researchmethods-fall2021\/2021\/09\/19\/epistemological-crisis-research-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Epistemological Crisis – Research Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

[I am going to do a bit of reverse engineering here. I watched the documentary Skin Deep: The Battle over Morgellons<\/em> and was captivated at how well it captured an essential element of the Epistemological Crisis. Groups of people who are deeply invested in their positions who then communicate only within and amongst themselves and communication between groups results in ‘thought terminating’ language and motivations]<\/p>\n

I would propose to use Morgellons as an analogical model for the Epistemological Crisis. Invested parties in the topic of Morgellons are discreet enough to offer a manageable examination. Additionally, as I have no personal connection to Morgellons, I have extremely limited exposure to conflict of interest considerations. The two primary ‘camps’ are those who demonstrate they are suffering from Morgellons, and on the other side, institutions (CDC \/ Medial Establishment) who contend that Morgellons does not exist.<\/p>\n

There is an interesting alignment \/ sequence in this proposal in that the core question is one rooted in philosophy, but both the proposed research and consequent rationalization are both rooted in Social Science.<\/p>\n

Research Questions<\/strong><\/p>\n

Can I use Morgellons (or equivalent) as an effective analogical model for offering a deeper understanding of the Epistemological Crisis?
\nWhat makes Morgellons a valid \/ useful analogical model?<\/p>\n

What are the elements which concretize the positions of disparate groups (whose contradictory positions act to subvert the other)?<\/p>\n

Are thought terminating language \/ motivations \/ actions a reflex or intentional response?<\/p>\n

Can the essential elements of the conflict between the invested parties of Morgellons be identified as discrete elements?
\nCan these essential elements be generalized to understand other analogical models and lead to a broader understanding of the Epistemological Crisis?
\nCan the conflict be disarmed? If so, can the tactics \/ solutions be generalized or would they be too discrete \/ specific?<\/p>\n

Audience<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am reminded of a quote from Author\/Podcaster Amber A’Lee Frost (paraphrased): The one universal lesson higher education students are effectively taught is to unlearn how to speak to regular people.<\/em><\/p>\n

The elements of this project are deeply rooted in academe, so I would think that the ‘natural’ audience would be academe. The problem I have is that much of my perspective on this indicts academe as, if not the singular, a major contributor to the existence and exacerbating factor of the Epistemological Crisis. In this way, suggesting the audience for this project to be academe would be (in my mind) equivalent to Marx & Engels writing The Communist Manifesto<\/em> for the bourgeoisie. Ideally, then, I would like my audience to be the proletariat (though I fully acknowledge the tremendous challenge of such – but utopian idealism shouldn’t be – in and of itself – an academic infraction!)<\/p>\n

So What?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I stand by my assertion that the Epistemological Crisis is real and suggests serious consequences not just for the immediate, but for the long term health of human society – be it the limitation of the construct of The United States (which I am not particularly invested in maintaining for any other reason than to mitigate against accelerationist collapse), or the broader implications of Global Climate Change on global health. Discretely, I think empirical evidence can demonstrate that inaction (and the actions which obviated productive action) on COVID has had catastrophic consequences, and that GCC can demonstrate similar with far greater consequences. Assuming humans to be functioning rational (AND social) beings, what is the source of such catastrophic behavior?<\/p>\n

I think that an analogical model which (hopefully) can explicate the Epistemological Crisis in an accessible way – a sort of philosophical amuse bouche – can serve to define the subject as legitimate and worthy.<\/p>\n

… Kenny<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[I am going to do a bit of reverse engineering here. I watched the documentary Skin Deep: The Battle over Morgellons and was captivated at how well it captured an essential element of the Epistemological Crisis. Groups of people who are deeply invested in their positions who then communicate only within and amongst themselves and communication between groups results in… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5240,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[178445,178775],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research-project","category-research-questions"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/researchmethods-fall2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/researchmethods-fall2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/researchmethods-fall2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/researchmethods-fall2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5240"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/researchmethods-fall2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/researchmethods-fall2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":212,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/researchmethods-fall2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198\/revisions\/212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/researchmethods-fall2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/researchmethods-fall2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/researchmethods-fall2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}