Ontoparadigms: a de-struction of social constructionism in the context of Heidegger's conception of truth

Abstract

This thesis de-constructs social constructionism in the context of Heidegger's conception of truth and develops the concept of onto paradigm through this de-struction in order to deal with some basic problems arising within Heidegger's philosophy as well, as within contemporary constructionist philosophy. While its main goal is.a de-struction of social constructionism, in a Heideggerian sense, the thesis also develops a critique of the traditional sociology of science and a critique of Rorty's neopragmatism, presenting these two critiques as two moments serving the main goal. The relation between nature and society is interpreted by social constructionism in a way that covers up and makes invisible the ontological structure lying behind the so called "constructive" interactions between nature and society. This thesis uncovers this ontological structure through the introduction of the concept of onto paradigm while it employs a threefold phenomenological methodology taken from Heidegger: (1) Phenomenological reduction, (2) phenomenological construction, and (3) phenomenological destruction. In the first moment, the concept of construction as encountered in social constructionism is reduced to the concept of constitution in a Kantian sense by being bracketed and traced back to its Kantian source, which is taken implicitly as a ground by social constructionism. The second moment of the threefold methodology appears as the positive one, which is the phenomenological construction of the concept of ontoparadigm on the basis of Heidegger's conception of truth as A- _letheia· within the context of his interpretation of Plato's allegory of the cave. This phenomenological construction of the concept of ontoparadigm happens necessarily in the form of a destruction of the traditional concept of social construction as well as the doctrine of social constructionism, which cover up the ontological structure of ontoparadigm. After the construction of the concept and the phenomenon of ontoparadigm, the thesis applies the concept to the historical case of "the, Galileo affair". Through this case study, the conflict of the modern/Galilean ontoparadigm with the AristotelianlPtolemaic ontoparadigm is studied as an example of how ontoparadigms function as coersive onto-ethicallonto-political regimes of Being and how ontological norms of ontoparadigms intertwine with social, political, legal norms and constitute certain conflicting models of nature, resulting in onto-political conflicts. The task of the thesis appears as the uncovering of the structure of ontoparadigm without defending it in a philosophically normative sense. It marks a phenomenon belonging to the metaphysical tradition, which Heidegger characterizes as "the forgottenness of Being" (Seinsvergessenheit) and attempts to overcome. Following Heidegger, the thesis also de-constructs the concept of ontoparadigm after constructing it. This second destruction aims to reach the ontological source out of which the Being of the phenomenon of onto paradigm arises. In this last step, "onto-paradigm" is reduced to the more original concept of Seinsfuge -which Heidegger introduces in his late philosophy- and reaches the original (ursprunglich) temporality of Being. The concept of Seinsfuge points to an alternative, non-ontoparadigmatic way of thinking, in which the ontoparadigmatic forgottenness of Being is overcome.