The Unicist Approach to Research
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Secure/certain knowledge
Knowledge can be secure to a larger or lesser extent (more or less “reliable”). They must be reliable on the basis of their level of foundation. When they cover all the levels of foundation we say that we are in light of secure/certain knowledge.
Research needs to count on secure knowledge on which to build the quest for the foundation of the field under study. Foundations are explanations that make the conclusions of a research reasonable, understandable and verifiable.
All research concludes when it manages to incorporate a new piece of secure knowledge to the library of cognitive objects.
Secure knowledge has the format of a cognitive object.
A cognitive object is a structured piece of knowledge to define universal actions with essential foundation (which make it certain or secure).
Knowledge begins as of an opinion, based on causal foundations, and is applicable to special actions. Universal knowledge can only be built on the basis of the research that enables the discovery of concepts.
The beliefs, fantasies, truths applied to reality and the “dehumanization” of actions are different formats that the anti-concept of a cognitive object assumes. Taking these into account implies the destruction of the research process.
The definition of secure knowledge structured as cognitive objects allows establishing more efficient research design since the homologies are implicit in their own definition.
Experimentation fields, be them analogous or homologous
The research of complex systems demands the development of experiences that permit verifying the hypothesis by means of the repetition of their operation.
When doing research on very ample fields, for instance, the behavior of a country’s government, experimentation becomes very hard.
In these cases it is possible to resort to homologies which, when well defined and described, permit the construction of highly reliable knowledge even though it is not a secure one. Knowledge is secure only when it has been experimented in its own field that is subject to investigation.
If we proceed with the example of research posed, regarding the government, we will define some special characteristics in order to be able to determine the possibility of building a homology.
Let us suppose that we are dealing with the government of a developing country where the State function is not separated from the government function. In this case we can suppose that the government will behave like an archetypal family from such country.
The family can be considered the basic organization of a society. If we consider the concept of family, describing it and experimenting on archetypical families we will have a very close knowledge regarding the expected behavior from the government.
The research methodology of “analogous and homologous” is usually used in the research on complex systems since it permits construction of validation and falsification cases that are very helpful to avoid fallacies.
If the family were researched and the conclusions drawn in the research contradicted the facts observed in society the following alternatives could take place:
a) That the conclusions are wrongly determined or inferred
b) That the family or families chosen are not archetypical of such culture
c) That the facts observed are apparent and not real
d) That the statement that governments that do not separate from state operate like large family structures is false.
The selection of the research fields is related to the possibility to do the research and to the real availability of such fields.
Research protocol
The research protocol is the guideline of its procedures. It simply describes all the elements required by the research methodology. To include the quality assurance in the guideline is what still remains complex.
To do so a quality assurance system is designed, on the basis of inferences and logical derivations based on the Unicist Logic, which detects the cognitive incompatibilities.
When there is a cognitive incompatibility the research goes into an overall review process to determine whether there is an error or whether a redefinition is necessary.
The conclusions’ field of application
When a research process is started there has to be a clear definition as to the added value of its conclusions. The fact of defining the field of application of its hypothetical results a priori determines research amplitude and depth.
The more ample it is the more analogous fields of application it has. The deeper it is the more homologous fields of application it has.
