Public Administration is Scientifics or Social Science in Context of Epistemology

Abstract

          The field of Public Administration is the subject of bureaucratic reform. This academic aims to find an answer whether Public Administration is science or social science in the context of Epistemology. From the analysis of documents, it was found that epistemology is the source of knowledge in which some concepts in Public Administration come from using scientific methods as a tool for seeking knowledge known as fundamentalism, such as scientific management, Bureaucratic concept and modern organizational theory etc. born in the age of behavioral science in order to create theories and rules in explaining and predicting the phenomenon of Public Administration. But later, the concept of Public Administration had been disputed by some scholars that it cannot solve social problems. The scholars tried to find a solution to the concept of public administration. The result was found that public administration cannot separate the student from the study (The truth and values cannot be separated). Therefore, the concept of phenomenon-based knowledge seeking was presented as a guideline for the study of Public Administration concepts such as Public Policy, Public Choice and Public Management etc.