Marketing: philosophy of science and “epistobabble warfare”

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to review the philosophy of science debates in the marketing literature and describe the current situation in marketing with respect to philosophy of science issues.

Design/methodology/approach

As a viewpoint/conceptual paper, the approach is largely a review of the literature with interspersed personal commentary.

Findings

The paper summarises the key contentions of opposing academics and attempt to convey the futility and pointlessness of such argumentation and describe a novel (to marketing) “attitude” to conducting marketing research.

Originality/value

Rather than argue one particular perspective, it is this paper's central thesis that no one philosophical perspective does or should have a monopoly on what constitutes making a useful contribution to our understanding of marketing phenomena.

Citation

Rod, M. (2009), "Marketing: philosophy of science and “epistobabble warfare”", Qualitative Market Research, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 120-129. https://doi.org/10.1108/13522750910948743