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Why Do Sociological Theorists Need To Be Concerned With The Issues Of Epistemology

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Why do sociological theorists need to be concerned with issues of epistemology and ontology?

As a sociological theorist in the making, I will be arguing that the issues of epistemology and ontology are the very basis of knowledge relating to all sociological theories. Ontology and epistemology are the foundation of sociology, and therefore the basis of sociological theory. To begin, one must be sure what exactly these two concepts mean. Epistemology is concerned with how knowledge comes to be.
Epistemology shows us the direction the theorist will take. Epistemology considers how individuals and society comes to have knowledge, and how that knowledge is used.
Ontology is what we know. Ontology questions how we in society know what something is, specifically, what is the nature of a given object.
As an example, social theorists dealing with the concepts of epistemology and ontology, can examine the notion of “God”. Epistemologists would consider how we know “God” exists; this is examining how we come to have knowledge; the back bone of epistemology. Ontology examines what “God” is (Scales, 2). This example of “God” is …show more content…

While dealing with the issue of epistemology and ontology, there are subcategories of each that we must consider. Ontology has two positions: objectivism and constructionism. Objectivism is something that is independent from everything else around it (Bryman, 4). Constructionism is the exact opposite of objectivism; it is something that must have its meaning made by others (Bryman, 4). One theory cannot be exclusively related to another without overlap from the other concept. As different as ontology and epistemology seem in theory, they are forever combined, and can never be separated concepts (Schaffer, Week 4). While the issues of epistemology and ontology seem vast, understanding the different social theories that link the concepts together is

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