Theoretical clarity is not “Manicheanism”: A reply to Marcia Bates

Birger Hjørland

doi:10.1177/0165551511423169

Theoretical clarity is not “Manicheanism”: A reply to Marcia Bates

Birger Hjørland

Department of Communication

9 Citations (Scopus)

1237 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

It is argued that in order to establish a new theoretical approach to information science it is necessary to express disagreement with some established views. The 'social turn' in information science is not just exemplified in relation to the works of Marcia Bates but in relation to many different researchers in the field. Therefore it should not be taken personally, and the debate should focus on the substance. Professor Bates has contributed considerably to information science. In spite of this, some of her theoretical points of departure may be challenged. It is important to seek theoretical clarity, and this may involve a degree of schematic confrontation that should not be confused with theoretical one-sidedness, 'Manicheanism' or lack of respect.

Original language	English
Journal	Journal of Information Science
Volume	37
Issue number	5
Pages (from-to)	546-552
Number of pages	7
ISSN	0165-5515
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/0165551511423169
Publication status	Published - Oct 2011

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title = "Theoretical clarity is not “Manicheanism”: A reply to Marcia Bates",

abstract = "It is argued that in order to establish a new theoretical approach to information science it is necessary to express disagreement with some established views. The 'social turn' in information science is not just exemplified in relation to the works of Marcia Bates but in relation to many different researchers in the field. Therefore it should not be taken personally, and the debate should focus on the substance. Professor Bates has contributed considerably to information science. In spite of this, some of her theoretical points of departure may be challenged. It is important to seek theoretical clarity, and this may involve a degree of schematic confrontation that should not be confused with theoretical one-sidedness, 'Manicheanism' or lack of respect.",

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note = "Answer to M. J. Bates (2011). Birger Hj{\o}rland{\textquoteright}s Manichean Misconstruction of Marcia Bates{\textquoteright} Work, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 62(10):2038–2044. DOI: 10.1002/asi.21594.",

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Theoretical clarity is not “Manicheanism”: A reply to Marcia Bates

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