How the Buddhist Epistemology can Contribute to Contemporary Knowledge Management Debates?

Abstract

This paper can be positioned within the ongoing debate regarding the aptness of incongruent perspectives adopted in managing knowledge within organisations. These perspectives are mainly founded on the Western originated epistemologies. Amongst them, the mainstream perspectives influenced by the epistemology of Cartesian dualism of mindbody. The mind-body dualism conceives the mind and body as two separable entities. This dualism, in a knowledge seeking context, leads to the subject-object division hence, making a separation between the knower (subject) and what is known (object). This paper argues that dominance of tacit-explicit separation within knowledge management (KM) literature arises due to this separation between the knower and what is known. Hence, due to the dualism treatment of knowledge, KM practices of the mainstream perspectives are subject to several limitations including less attention paid to a holistic and social approach to knowledge management processes. In this context, despite the existence of several Eastern originated epistemologies, they have not marked a significant presence in KM literature. Amongst the Eastern epistemologies, the Buddhist epistemology has a comprehensive theory of knowledge explicated in early Buddhist discourses. The Buddhist epistemology also include theoretical explanations to negate dualism treatment of knowledge which may underpin alternative perspectives to the mainstream. Further, the Buddhist epistemology has the potential to enhance the social process within KM. However, so far, investigations on the contribution of the Buddhist epistemology to KM virtually nonexist. Hence, this paper aims to explore the potential of the Buddhist epistemology to contribute to contemporary KM. The insights gained from this study can be incorporated into existing organisational KM practices. The aim is to advance the existing practices for better management of knowledge.