Shrek: Simple Story or Nonhuman Transactor?

Abstract

Some positivist practitioners of social sciences think that objective knowledge is accessible to human beings. By this they mean a direct and “pure” knowledge of the object as it is in reality, without any interference from the methods, theories, technologies, tools, observers, and other factors involved in the production of knowledge. In this respect, they believe we have to and can neutralize the effects of our subjectivity—of our mind, values, and body—on the process of observation by using one Scientific method. Then, like an angel or the Cartesian mind, we could see the world from an external, detached and disembodied position. In sum, Science would require a neutral and cold observing machine looking at external objects as they are in reality.