A SELF-REFERENTIAL EPISTEMOLOGY:BEYOND CIRCULARITY TO RIGOR

摘要

Natural epistemology is a necessary consequence in any theory that denies a priorirnassumptions. Any assumption utilized in such an epistemology is recognized as being (a)rnthe at-one-time hypothesis of someone (b) that has been tested and (c) has been found tornbe reliable. In a systemic, evolutionary account of the social world, the norms forrnjudging a theory’s validity have to self-consciously reflect the evolutionary processes thatrngenerate those norms.rnThis paper relies heavily on the thoughts of Luhmann, Goertzel, Maturana, Varela,rnKampis, Artigiani, Treumann, Habermas, and Warfield It develops several aspects of arnself-referential epistemology. It examines relationships with the naturalized and socialrnepistemologies that are derived from Quine. It considers the hermeneutic circle and thernways it is expanded. It describes the roles of redundancy and asymmetry. It explains thernautopoiesis of knowledge in terms of the cognitive equation. It portrays the surprisingrnvalidation of deterministic science that is offered by deterministic chaos theory.rnThe key ideas of epistemological rigor are derived from Luhmann and Warfield. Therncriteria for evaluating statements and belief systems are mined from a variety of systemicrnauthors.