A Final Note on Epistemology

There are lots of books that deal with epistemology from various perspectives. One of the more interesting ones I've read is Paul Hiebert's "Anthropological Reflections on Missiological Issues."

The taxonomy he presents includes Idealism (Absolute, Critical, Naive), Realism (Naive, Critical), Instrumentalism (Pragmatism), and Determinism. Idealism tends to focus on reality being in the mind (an bias toward epistemology), Realism tends to focus on reality being in the world (an bias toward ontology), and Pragmatism and Determinism are self-explanatory.

Here's a quote that gives some idea of how Hiebert writes:

"One consequence of instrumentalism is deconstructionism - giving up the search for one grand unifying theory of knowledge and celebrating pluralism and diversity despite their incongruity and lack of coherence. Jean-Francois Lyotard and other postmodernists see the world as fragmented and unpresentable. They detest the idea of what Habermas called the "unity of experience" and celebrate pluralism and contradiction. In this spirit Lyotard declares, 'It must be clear that it is our business not to supply reality but to invent illusion to the conceivable which cannot be presented. And it is not to be expected that this task will effect the last reconciliation between language games (which, under the name of faculties, Kant knew to be separated by a chasm), and that only the transcendental illusion (that of Hegel) can hope to totalize them into a real unity...Let us wage a war on totality; let us be witnesses to the unpresentable; let us activate the difference.' Linda Hutcheon notes, 'Willfully contradictory, then, post modern culture uses and abuses the conventions of discourse. There is no outside. All it can do is question from within.' In postmodernity there is no basis for debate over truth. We must tolerate differences and celebrate diversity. To seek to convert others to our beliefs is arrogance."

If you're interested in a Christian perspective on epistemology across cultures, this is a nice overview.