Theories of Knowledge: A Critical Examination of the Validity of Different Kinds of Explanations

Abstract

The theories of knowledge are the most important areas of knowledge. The major issue in “Theories of knowledge”, is the real source of obtaining the knowledge. In the field of philosophy of social sciences, the theories of knowledge and its different kinds of explanations provides basis for conducting research. Regarding the theories of knowledge, Rationalism and Empiricism are the two main sources of acquiring knowledge. The followers of rationalism believe that logics are the primary source of knowledge for conducting research and the followers of empiricism believe that experience is the primary source of knowledge. In this regard, the paper has described that how the theory of induction and deduction works. The research paper has critically discussed the observations of followers of these two schools of thoughts and has examined the validity of different kinds of explanations i.e Scientific Explanations and Social Explanations. The research paper has thoroughly discussed the theories and models of explanation and attempted to answer the following questions; what are the problems with the theories of knowledge? What is the nature of different kinds of explanation? What is the validity of different kinds of explanations?. In the end, the paper has presented conclusion from the critical discussion in the paper.