Journal of Management Research
Volume 1, Number 4 (September – December 2001)
ISSN: 0972-5814 Online ISSN: 0974-455X
Fallibilism and Organizational Research
Thomas C Powell
| Abstract |
Epistemology is the study of knowledge – of what is known and how we know it. Organizational epistemology is dominated by the dualist opposition of objectivist and subjectivist philosophies of science. Objectivists accept knowledge claims as potentially true and warranted on objective evidence, whereas subjectivists ground knowledge in perception, phenomenology and social
construction. Though these two perspectives differ in their ontologies (the reality of constructs and
relations) and methodologies (how these relations can be observed), both views accept that reliable
organizational knowledge is possible. This paper introduces a third epistemological perspective -
fallibilism - and shows how neglect of this third epistemology has constrained advance in the
objectivist-subjectivist debate. Fallibilism, which challenges the foundations and reliability of
knowledge claims, occupies a significant place in every major philosophical tradition, but
contradicts the prevailing rhetoric of knowledge-claiming in organizational research, and has been
systematically excluded from the debate. In this article we present the foundations and precepts of
fallibilism, show how its absence has invited divisive and sectarian dogmatism, and explore its
potential contributions to organizational research.
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