Categories of Knowledge

1. Dogma: Belief, faith, reference to authority

2. Hypothesis: Logic, educated guess, inference, validated by rules of logic (or doesn't need to be validated as hypothesis)

3. Natural Science

• Probabilistic observations leading to claims of certain truth
• based on mechanistic, positivist, reductionistic assumptions
• validated by methods of controlled quantiative observations and experimental methods according to the rules of the dominant paradigm
• based on hypothesis-testing, control of variables, and elimination of alternative hypotheses

4. Human Science

• Rigorous, systematic analysis of human experience and behavior leading to explanations that are deep, rich, useful, and internally consistent
• based on phenomenological, hermeneutic, or constructionist assumptions
• validated by Human Science Research Methods including both quantitative and qualitative research methods

5. Mystical knowledge: Higher intuition, direct knowing, contemplation, trans-rational knowing

For a more detailed presentation of some of these issues and terms, go to An Integrated Approach To Scientific Research Methods