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Does Postmodernism Mean the End of Science in the Behavioral Sciences, and Does it Matter Anyway?

University of Guelph, bryan{at}uoguelph.ca

At the root of the epistemological implications of modernity and postmodernity is the question of the nature of reality. In modernity the presumption is that reality is external, fully defined, and subject to discovery through science. In the emerging epistemology of postmodernism, science itself creates reality in the course of its practice. In order to assess the relative impact of these two positions on scientific scholarship within the social and behavioral sciences, their respective epistemologies are explored. It is suggested that while the practice of the natural sciences may be little affected by postmodernism, the social sciences in general, and most especially psychology, may be deeply changed by the new epistemology.

Key Words: behavioral science • postmodernism • reality • social science

Theory & Psychology, Vol. 9, No. 4, 483-502 (1999)
DOI: 10.1177/0959354399094003


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