SOC102H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Intersectionality, Social Inequality
Document Summary
Epistemology : the study of the nature of knowledge (methods, validity and scope) Check legal documents that verify their existence. Several meanings, such as a physical body seeing someone, having a pulse. How we know the things we know, validity, question where we get information from, what does it mean to know things. There are many ways to know the social world : science, experience, observation, tradition, faith, authority. People tend to think that science is above all else, but there are several other ways to verify. Not all ways of knowing are equally valid and/or reliable. Validity : measuring what you actually think you are measuring (ex. Are you measuring intelligence or someone"s ability to do well on test?) Some ways of knowing are especially privileged: e. g. scientific knowledge. This course will explore scientific knowledge, primarily in the aggregate. The aggregate doesn"t negate the anecdotal, and. With any scientific knowledge, we should question its validity and reliability.
