Library and information science and the philosophy of science
| Date | 01 February 2005 |
| Pages | 5-10 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/00220410510577970 |
| Published date | 01 February 2005 |
| Author | Birger Hjørland |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
INTRODUCTION TO THE SPECIAL ISSUE
Library and information science
and the philosophy of science
Birger Hjørland
Royal School of Library and Information Science, Copenhagen, Denmark
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this article is to introduce the special issue of Journal of Documentation
about library and information science (LIS) and the philosophy of science.
Design/methodology/approach – The most important earlier collected works about metatheories
and philosophies of science within LIS are listed.
Findings – It is claimed that Sweden probably is the country in which philosophy of science has the
highest priority in LIS education. The plan of the guest editor was that each epistemological position
should be both introduced and interpreted in a LIS context together with a review of its influence
within the field and an evaluation of the pros and cons of that position. This was only an ideal plan. It
is argued that it is important that such knowledge and debate are available within the LIS-literature
itself and that the answers to such questions as “What is positivism?” are not trivial ones.
Originality/value – The introduction is written to assist readers overviewing the issue and share
the thoughts of the editor in planning the issue.
Keywords Libraries, Information science, Philosophy,Epistemology
Paper type Viewpoint
This issue is concerned with metatheories in library and information science (LIS) and
especially with the philosophy of science of LIS. Metatheories are theories about the
description, investigation, analysis or criticism of the theories in a domain. They are
mostly internal to a domain, and may also be termed “paradigms”, “traditions” or
“schools”[1]. The present issue is termed “library and information science and the
philosophy of science”[2] to indicate that the emphasis is on basic approaches
developed and generally well known outside of LIS (such as critical realism,
empiricism, hermeneutics and pragmatism). Here these general views are interpreted
and investigated within the context of LIS. Such approaches deal with how knowledge
is understood and acquired and are important in discourses of the foundations of any
domain.
In the LIS community the interest in the philosophy of science has so far been
limited. There are of course exceptions from this general tendency. Patrick Wilson
(1927-2003) is an outstanding example of a person who was able to address specific
research problems in LIS and to widen the horizon of understanding such problems
considerably on the basis of a broader philosophical horizon. There are of course other
examples, but they are few in number. Those of us who think that the philosophy of
science have potentials to contribute to the further development of LIS as a field of
inquiry as well as a professional field have to argue and demonstrate that this is indeed
the case. This special issue is intended to contribute to that aim.
The dominant view concerning the role of the philosophy of science in any
special field (such as biology, LIS, nursing, physics, sociology or teaching) is
The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister www.emeraldinsight.com/0022-0418.htm
Library and
information
science
5
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 61 No. 1, 2005
pp. 5-10
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/00220410510577970
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