Positivism or Non-Positivism — Tertium Non Datur

Abstract

This paper revisits the debate between positivism and its alternatives in the field of information systems from a philosophical point of view. It will argue that the heart of the debate is the ontological difference between the views of reality as observer-independent versus observer-dependent. The logical axiom of the excluded third (tertium non datur) informs us that two contradictory options cannot simultaneously be true. The paper will discuss what the incompatibility of the ontological positions of positivism and its alternatives means for IS research. It will discuss why scholars attempt to mix the two and will spell out the consequences of an acceptance of their incompatibility. The paper will end by arguing that this debate needs to be contextualized with the problem of positivism versus non-positivism in society and it will ask whether a tolerant coexistence of the two approaches is feasible. Without this contextualized understanding of ontology in general, regional ontologies in IS are not likely to be successful as they will be based on unclear bases.