The Philosopher's Corner: Questioning Assumptions in the Information Systems Discipline

A healthy characteristic of any research field is a willingness to question its own assumptions. In this essay, I discuss Treiblmaier's proposal to question the epistemological and methodological assumptions of the Information Systems field. Treiblmaier's proposal is thoughtful and provocative and reflects his deep knowledge of the topic and his strong desire for an alternative epistemological and methodological future for our field. Drawing on Feyerabend, Treiblmaier recommends that IS researchers adopt epistemological anarchism, methodological anarchism, and "anything goes" as a guiding principle. I argue against all of these viewpoints. I argue that epistemological anarchism will not foster research progress, methodological anarchism will not lead to major new insights, and "anything goes" as a guiding principle will not benefit the field. Despite disagreeing with Treiblmaier's main recommendations, I highlight several points that I agree are important for the field to address.