Ranganathan between philosophical and epistemological dilemmas: around the problem of Library Science “scientificity” in the 1930s

Abstract

This paper is to carry out a debate on Ranganathan’s epistemological and methodological dilemmas at the beginning of his bibliographic production in Library Science in the 1930s. As a consequence, the paper point out some interpretations of a given Brazilian hermeneutic about Ranganathan’s work. Our interests are mainly to contribute to the understanding of the philosophical and epistemological role of Ranganathan’s thought. The results demonstrate Ranganathan’s philosophical-epistemological relevance, from logic to pragmatics, from deductive constructions to the social and cultural theories of Library Science. Ranganathan’s philosophy allows us to go from the transcendental plane to the plane of action – from philosophy to the epistemological scheme of a field (its scientificity), to its empirically proven theories (the praxis that transforms reality through the scientific method). It is, therefore, a political philosophy of Library Science, oriented towards the horizon of a documentary democracy.

Keywords

• ranganathan
• library science epistemology
• library science philosophy
• transcendental pragmatics
• documentary democracy