Postmodernism, Interpretivism, and Formal Ontologies

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Author(s): Jan H. Kroeze (University of South Africa, South Africa)
Copyright: 2012
Pages: 20
Source title: Research Methodologies, Innovations and Philosophies in Software Systems Engineering and Information Systems
Source Author(s)/Editor(s): Manuel Mora (Autonomous University of Aguascalientes (UAA), Mexico), Ovsei Gelman (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico), Annette L. Steenkamp (Lawrence Technological University, USA)and Mahesh Raisinghani (University of Dallas, USA)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-0179-6.ch003

Keywords: Information Science Reference / IT Research & Theory / IT Research and Theory / Library & Information Science

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Abstract

This chapter investigates the relationship between postmodernism, interpretivism, and formal ontologies, which are widely used in Information Systems (IS). Interpretivism has many postmodernist traits. It acknowledges that the world is diverse and that knowledge is contextual, ever-changing, and emergent. The acceptance of the idea of more than one reality and multiple understandings is part and parcel of postmodernism. Interpretivism is, therefore, characterized as a postmodern research philosophy. To demonstrate this philosophical premise more concretely, the creation of the logical structure of formal ontologies is sketched as an example of typical interpretivist and postmodernist activity in IS.

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