Social Epistemology applies Philosophical methods of inquiry to the features of Society that present themselves to us, in an attempt to understand Societies as phenomena. It asks questions such as, "How do we evaluate the current state of our shared knowledge, in terms of its historic and factual accuracy?", or "Why should we believe a particular 'Law of Physics' as a matter of fact, rather than as a standard of research, or a threshold of explanatory power?".
I have (previously) been using the term "Social Narrative" in a way which more resembles the term "Social Rhetoric", and will be editing my pages in order to better reflect the separate nature of these terms. Thank you for your patience. The Social Narrative is a shared entity, to which each of us contribute in our own way, while Social Rhetoric attempts to argue for the limitation or exclusion of the contributions of others, sometimes with good reason, but often for ulterior motives.
| Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
| Social Narrative | The continuously developing story of how our society and its features have come into existence and persist. |
| Social Rhetoric | The rhetorical positions of those who wish to limit and control the Social Narrative. |
| Social Dialectic | The dialectical inquiries of those who wish to explore and enhance the Social Narrative. |