ABSTRACT
Epistemology refers to such issues as the criteria that are used to evaluate the truth of statements and, more broadly, the worldview that underpins not only a person's way of making sense of experience, but also their way of knowing the world. There have been many attempts to clarify different epistemic styles or ways of knowing. A pluralistic stance acknowledges that we live in a culture marked by multiple truth criteria and multiple worldviews, and that the clients with whom we meet may be guided by worldviews that differ from our own, or may be struggling within their own lives to reconcile epistemic styles that are in conflict. In pluralistic therapy, cultivating epistemic fluidity is not an abstract intellectual exercise, but instead represents a necessary skill in relation to the capacity of aligning with the underlying worldview and problem-solving style of the client. Problem-solving therapy is based in a single epistemological position, an objectivist perspective grounded in neuroscience.
