Getting it Right: Public Administration Undergoing Epistemology

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2018

Abstract

Through a reading of Charles Taylor’s “Overcoming Epistemology,” I explore the epistemological enterprise as it relates to the field of public administration. I first consider what “undergoing” epistemology means by categorizing the activities of undergoing into three classes of increasing generality: doing/studying, defining/delineating, and grounding of public administration. I conclude this section by alluding to the dissolution of dualisms in the field in order to resolve the identity of public administration. The various ways of undergoing epistemology point to the interrelationship between Taylor’s epistemological enterprise and a consideration of public administration as a political project. In the section on “overcoming,” I consider a definition of public administration provided by Meier and O’Toole (MOT). As I argue, the MOT definition functions more as a statement of mission for the field of Public Administration than as a disciplinary definition, and this mission is characterized by at least two core values common in modernity: measurability and impersonality. The last two sections of the article explore the implications of these values.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

Administrative Theory and Praxis

First Page

23

Last Page

42

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