Resonating thoughts on Epistemological positions Chapter 1 - Module 2 Handbook

The first thing which influenced my thinking was the quote ‘what you know frames how you understand the world’ (p15) The idea that research was not as clear cut as I first thought, and it stems from how you see the world, makes it appear as a collage of outcomes or ideas rather then a fixed outcome. 

Our own history affects how we view the information we are given. Before carrying out any research it is important to understand our epistemological positions and that of others within our chosen area of research. 

Epistemology or the discussion of knowledge is based in philosophy. When considering the viewpoints of these scholars, it is important to consider the voice of the author, i.e the white, European male perspective. It is important to acknowledge how the author may affect or skew the knowledge based on their own views. For example, our own historical overview comes from a European framework where it is influenced and distorted by the western experience of modernity. It is impossible to ignore the past or the society in which we live in, therefore this will influence how we write and indeed perceive the knowledge we are trying to convey. 

The dualism of mind and body has been present in ancient civilisations including Greeks, Romans, Middle Ages right through until Darwinism. The main similarities in all the philosophies are that the body is the passive entity and the mind is active and superior. The body is subject to control, or is codified, in how it should move or behave or even as a machine fine tuned over time by knowledge held through generations. It is judged, used to determine social order, assessed, measured and seen as closed where as the mind was seen as open, spiritual and the instigator of all knowledge.

In comparison, Monist perspectives consider the human mind and body to exist as equals and not separate entities. In this way the body is defended and given worth because of the rights of the individual within it. Monist perspectives contributed to the development of the notion of aesthetics and also Phenomenology which centres on embodiment to describe the lived experience. 

Both perspectives help you understand the viewpoint and position of the author. This shows how the dancing body links to much wider orientations about what bodies are, how they are good, useful and knowledgeable. Thus, ‘Your relationship with ‘certainty’ underpins your research position (p29). Whilst dualist approaches seek to fix certainty, embodiment or Monist approaches do not. In this way we can describe the starting points for research as either Positivist ( certainty) and non-positivist ( uncertainty)

Positivist research assumes that there is something fixed to be found or an answer to the question. This implies dualism as you discover answers without having an influence on the research and all the factors act independent of each other. Non positivist research starts the inquiry process with an assumption that things are constructed from a number of elements. Your presence can change or alter as everything is related. This no fixed certainty with multiple outcomes lends it to Monist and embodied perspective.

Different research methods find themselves placed along this continuum or spectrum rather then being one or the other. Similarly the researcher does not have to choose one or the other, instead he/she needs an awareness and understanding of both. Interestingly, in the handbook the example of teaching a pirouette is given to explain the difference in approaches. A positivist will teach a specific technique which is the same for everyone and a non-positivist will give multiple suggestions including different images, corrections or pointers so different people draw on different things. I was really interested in this and in class on Saturday when I taught pirouettes to students I experimented with the different ways of teaching. I like to use imagery, and I also look at the students in front of me to assess how to approach the turn. When I look back to my own training, in ballet it was very much a positivist approach, one way, one size fits all. When I did ballet at university my tutor was very much into imagery and drawing on more then one method. Interestingly both tutors were ex-ballet dancers in high profile dance companies and had been trained in RAD ballet, however they had completely different approaches. I think traditionally the stigma attached to ballet as being strict, disciplined and rigid maybe makes ballet teachers seem more positivist in their approach, particularly in institutions where all the students are hand picked for a certain body type, where as in institutions such as universities and dance schools where the level of ability and body types are more varied a non-positivist approach may be more appropriate. 

I think the same is true to school teachers, the more experience you have teaching students, the more you move towards the non-positivist approach. For example, the teacher who has just completed his/her initial teacher training has a bag of tools, however over time more tools and strategies are added depending upon what is learnt from teaching the students. In this way as teachers we mould and shape our teaching methods to suit our students proving the value of experiential learning and that knowledge is not fixed or static. 

The basis of this MA is the belief that ‘Experience is knowledge’ which lends itself to the non-positivist approach. When we consider the topics we are researching it is important to look at whether there is already a standpoint as to how it is researched thus building a relationship between what you are researching and how it is researched. Where you stand in terms of the body/mind paradigm is important as it implies your social, philosophical and political position. You should acknowledge this when you carry out research. This also helps you understand the perspective that others are writing from.

In conclusion past experience and research is knowledge. The different ways that knowledge is defined or the study of knowledge is Epistomology. As previously discussed, this MA course is built on the belief that experience is knowledge and action has meaning and creates knowing. Historical context shows dominant dualist stances are detrimental to the dancing body being seen as a sight of knowledge. Thus, Embodiment resonates with the dance experience.