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THE SIGNIFICANCE FOR, AND IMPACT UPON, PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION OF THE CORRESPONDENCE THEORY OF TRUTH OR VERIDICALITY by Derek Ray Slagle A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of The College for Design and Social Inquiry in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, FL December 2015 Copyright 2015 by Derek Ray Slagle ii ABSTRACT Author: Derek Ray Slagle Title: The Significance for, and Impact Upon, Public Administration of the Correspondence Theory of Truth or Veridicality Institution: Florida Atlantic University Dissertation Advisor: Dr. Hugh Miller Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Year: 2015 The dissertation is about the significance for, and impact upon public administration of the correspondence theory of truth or veridicality, and its underlying epistemological assumptions. The underlying thesis is that, unduly influenced by the success of the natural sciences, and naïve in accepting their claims to objectivity, many disciplines have sought to emulate them. There are two principle objections. Firstly, all other considerations aside, the supposedly objectivistic methodologies apparently applied to the explanation and prediction of the behavior of interactions of physical objects, may simply be inappropriate to certain other areas of inquiry; and more specifically objectivist methodologies are indeed inappropriate to understanding of human subjects, and their behavior, relations and interactions, and thus to public administration. The second objection is that it is of course logically impossible for any supposedly empirical discipline, as the natural sciences claim to be, to justify the belief in a supposedly iv objective realm of things-in-themselves existing outside, beyond, or independently of the changing, interrupted and different ‘appearances’ or experiences, to which an empirical science is qua empirical, necessarily restricted. Correspondence of any empirical observations or appearances (and the consequent or presupposed theoretical explanations) to an objective realm, upon which the claim to objectivity is based, is unverifiable. In light of the above it becomes evident that far from being objective, the natural sciences themselves, and the empirical observations upon which they are supposedly grounded, are subject to conceptual mediation and subjective interpretation; subjective and inter-subjective coherence replacing objective correspondence as the criterion of veridicality. Consequently it becomes clear that the presuppositions and prejudices of the observers enter, in the forms of concepts and preconceptions, into the very observations, and even more so into the theoretical constructions, or theories, of the natural, and indeed human and social sciences, and their claims to be authoritative and true. Subsequent discussion is then focused on both the coherence of individuals’ experiences and understanding, and their inter-subjective coherence – which both rises from and constitutes, a “community”. The role of language facilitates such coherence. v THE SIGNIFICANCE FOR, AND IMPACT UPON, PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION OF THE CORRESPONDENCE THEORY OF TRUTH OR VERIDICALITY FIGURES ........................................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 1 Significance and Contribution ........................................................................................ 2 CHAPTER 2. EMPIRICISM, CORRESPONDENCE, AND OBJECTIVITY .................. 5 On Scientism and Empiricism ........................................................................................ 5 On Objectivity ................................................................................................................. 8 Correspondence Theory, or Veridicality ....................................................................... 10 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 12 CHAPTER 3. THE NATURE OF COHERENCE ........................................................... 15 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 15 Defining the Roles of Coherence As Necessary But Not Sufficient Conditions of Correspondence ............................................................................................................. 15 Subjective and Inter-subjective Coherence ................................................................... 18 Social Constructivism ............................................................................................... 19 Language: Signifiers and Signified ............................................................................... 20 Conceptualization Change and Paradigms .................................................................... 24 CHAPTER 4. DISCOURSE AND RECURSIVE PRACTICES ...................................... 35 Discourse ....................................................................................................................... 35 vi Ideographs and Narratives ........................................................................................ 35 Discourse Theory ...................................................................................................... 39 Recursive Practices and Institutionalization ................................................................. 43 Ordinary Language and Mathematical Language ......................................................... 47 CHAPTER 5. SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTIONS: ANALYSIS OF HISTORICAL, SOCIAL, AND POLITICAL PROGRESSION – TOWARDS AUTHORITY ............... 54 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 54 Scientific Institutionalization of Knowledge ................................................................ 55 Toward Cognitive Authority in Discourse: Specialization and Standardization ...... 59 The Historical Development of Professionalization, Institutionalization, and Standardization in Science: Politics, Economy, and Organization ............................... 65 Scientific Institutionalization and Professionalization: Quantification and Discourse ....................................................................................................................... 76 CHAPTER 6. CONCLUSION ......................................................................................... 84 Applications for the Human and Social Sciences ......................................................... 85 Supposedly Objectivistic Methodologies Applied to Explanation and Prediction of Behavior of Physical Objects May Simply Be Inappropriate to Certain Other Areas of Study; and More Specifically Are Indeed Inappropriate to the Understanding of Human Subjects ........................................................................... 85 Emergentism, Systems, and Structuralism ................................................................ 86 A Linguistic Model ................................................................................................... 91 Narrative Meaning .................................................................................................... 91 Narratives .............................................................................................................. 92 vii Political, Social, and Historical Discourse ............................................................ 92 Narrative Action: Human and Social Action ............................................................ 93 Applications for Public Administration ........................................................................ 95 Discursive or Communicative Epistemology ........................................................... 96 Rejection of Correspondence Theory ....................................................................... 97 The Methodology of Public Administration ............................................................. 97 Authority in Public Administration .......................................................................... 98 Beyond Orthodoxy in Public Administration ......................................................... 100 Language of Public Administration .................................................................... 100 Beyond Empiricism - Essentialness of the Post-positivist Perspective .............. 101 Postmodernism .................................................................................................... 103 Public Administration: Deconstruction of Grand Narratives While Emphasizing Local Narratives ........................................................................ 104 Poststructuralism ................................................................................................. 106 Systems ............................................................................................................... 107 What Now for the Public Administrator? ............................................................... 108 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 114 viii FIGURES Figure 1. Hegemony in discourse: The standardization, specialization, professionalization, and institutionalization of science ...................................

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