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Epistemology Of Public Administration

Posted on:2013-07-29Degree:DoctorType:Dissertation
Country:ChinaCandidate:J Y WangFull Text:PDF
GTID:1266330401951395Subject:Administrative Management
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
After the development of more than100years, Public Administration especially thehistory of administrative theories, has already established its rich and solid systems ofadministrative knowledge. But as a kind of relatively young discipline, PublicAdministration has not yet developed its enough self-awareness and theoreticalconsciousness, it has just put much attention to the external administrative world, toproduce the administrative knowledge with practical equality. On the other hand, it hasseldom turned the theoretical sight itself, doing research on the problems such as nature ofadministrative knowledge, cognitive schema, the language boundary of publicadministration concerning with its own equality. In view of this, epistemology of publicadministration regards the systems of administrative knowledge especially the history ofadministrative theories as the researching object. By systematically analyzing and learningthe epistemology from ancient Greece to the modern times, this dissertation discusses theproblems of nature, creation, development and patterns of administrative knowledge(especially the administrative theories), makes researches which are similar to Hegel’sPhenomenology of Spirit, finally to promote the self-awareness and theoreticalconsciousness of Public Administration.The main topics, theoretical perspectives, basic conclusions and major innovationsthat the epistemology of public administration in this dissertation are as follows:"The theory of nature of administrative knowledge" answers the question of "what isadministrative knowledge". It systematically combs the important perspectives of thetheory of knowledge from ancient Greece to the modern times, gives a new definition ofknowledge as below: reasonable belief that a particular subject holds, which is consideredto be the logical premise of epistemology of public administration. On such basis, thisdissertation deduces the concept of administrative knowledge: reasonable belief aboutadministrative life that a particular subject holds. According to the tacit epistemology, thisdissertation divides the administrative knowledge into two types, they are administrativetheoretical knowledge and administrative tacit knowledge; detailed analyzes the forms,elements, structure, characteristics of administrative tacit knowledge, and the dialecticalrelationship between administrative theoretical knowledge and administrative tacitknowledge; briefly demonstrated the triple function of administrative knowledge, they arecognitive function, discipline function and critical function. "The theory of generation of administrative knowledge" answers the question of"how the administrative knowledge is generated". Firstly, from the perspective ofcognitive schema theory, it reveals that public administration research is ruled by whatkind of cognitive net to capture or produce public administration theories. It not onlypresents the three elements of cognitive schema (administrative experience, theoreticalforesight and administrative values) and its correlations, but also verifies the hypotheses asfollows based on the history of administrative theories, of which the hypotheses includethe assimilation function of theoretical foresight to administrative experience,modification function of new administrative experience for the theoretical foresight of thepublic administration study, values neutrality features of public administration study withpure theoretical orientation and values load features of public administration study withpractical orientation. Secondly, from the perspective of social construction theory, it alsoinvestigates how the administrative theory is constructed in the social process. Andhypotheses verified upon the history of administrative theories and the administrative lifeare those as follows: administrative knowledge is a expediently alternative as a response tothe administrative issues under specific situation; administrative knowledge amongmulti-administrative culture has the nature of differentiation and incommensurability;administrative knowledge reflects the special interest appealing and the balance of force inthe administrative field; manufacturing of administrative knowledge is influenced by thecultural spirit during that time; the declining tendency of humanistism relative to scientismof Public Administration can be ascribed to which administrative science can bedemonstrated in a mode of subjective-objective bisection, while administrative ethics askpeople to demonstrate it by their own practice or body, this situation actually indicate thedeficiency of moral practice courage in the administration world. Thirdly, from theperspective of tacit epistemology, this chapter explores the generation mechanism andmanagement approaches about administrative tacit knowledge. It puts forward thatadministrative tacit knowledge is generated by the follow processes or dimensions, whichinclude mutual interaction process of administrative life subject and object, naturalforgetting process of administrative life subject with regard to administrative situation,process of applying administrative judgment and analogical reasoning by administrativelife subject and wordless subjectivity foresight of administrative theory and practicesubject. Then it concludes the management approach about administrative tacit knowledgeresources,which include the combining of language expressions and action expressions,situational management and post management, theoretical study and case study. "The theory of development of administrative knowledge" discusses the impetus andmechanisms of the development of administrative knowledge, according to the principlesof contradiction, and concludes that the contradictions in the administrative practice, thecontradictions between the administrative theories, and the contradictions betweenadministrative theory and practice are important impetus promoting the development ofthe administrative knowledge; it also concludes that reconstruction of publicadministration ontology, reconstruction of methodology, reconstruction of values areimportant mechanisms for the development of administrative knowledge."The theory of patterns of administrative knowledge" discusses the narrative pattern,logic pattern and language pattern of Public Administration basing on the distinctionsbetween narrative philosophy and analytic philosophy. The narrative patterns of PublicAdministration can be divided into two basic types, namely modern narrative pattern andpostmodern narrative pattern. Modern Public Administration follows narrative patterns ofsubject-object dichotomy, meta-narrative and rationalism. Postmodern PublicAdministration follows narrative patterns of subjective narrative, anti-meta-narrative andirrationalism. The logic patterns of Public Administration can be divided into ordinarylogic pattern and dialectical logic pattern. The former follows the either-or way of thinking,while the latter has the characteristics of negativity, humanity and dialogue. The languageof Public Administration has three basic properties: image, game, rhetoric. The languageof Public Administration as image is isomorphic to the administrative world and hasdifference between significance and true-or-false. It must keep silence on the absolutevalue. The meaning of public administration language as game is its usage in theadministrative life. It can confirm or modify the rule of administrative game andsimultaneously contains semantic attribute, illocutionary attribute and perlocutionaryattribute. The language of Public Administration as rhetoric is to speak basing on specifictheory or practical situations, to persuade basing on the contingency of administrativeworld, to defend basing on the dialectic of the administrative world, to communicatebasing on the ethic of the administrative world.The innovation of the research on epistemology of public administration in thisdissertation mainly shows in following aspects: First, this dissertation selects the westernphilosophy "epistemology" as the important perspective and rooted in relevant theoriesand schools of western philosophy in order to deeply comb and reflect westernadministrative theories, which reflect the innovation of the title selection. Second, learningfrom Plato’s classic definition of knowledge and the important perspectives on history of epistemology, this dissertation gives a more inclusive and illuminating definition ofknowledge. Third, basing on tacit epistemology, it reveals the important dimension asadministrative tacit knowledge, and for the first time elaborates comprehensively on thegeneration mechanism and management approaches about administrative tacit knowledge.Forth, from the perspective of cognitive schema theory, it explores the cognitive net ofPublic Administration and concludes the hypotheses of cognitive schema of publicadministrative study. Fifth, from the perspective of social construction theory, it revealsthat administrative knowledge is actually constructed in the social process. Sixth, from theperspectives such as archaeology of knowledge and discourse ethics, it combs the paththat interest subjects, methodologies and values concerning the genealogy of history ofwestern administrative theories, change from binary opposition structure to multipleunbalanced structures. Seventh, from the perspective of narrative patterns of modernphilosophy and postmodern philosophy, it discusses and compares the narrative patternsbetween modern administration and postmodern administration. Eighth, it introduces therelevant principles of logic to the research of history of administrative theories andpreliminarily explored the logic patterns of Public Administration. Ninth, it introduces thebasic principles of the language philosophy to the research of history of administrativetheories and summarizes the basic nature of the language of Public Administration.
Keywords/Search Tags:administrative knowledge, epistemology, administrative theoreticalknowledge, administrative tacit knowledge, history of administrative theories
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