Scholars have underscored that the organization studies are afflicted by dualism which impedes new theoretical developments. To overcome dualism which considers all aspects in opposition, we adopt a philosophical approach to explore in depth its origins. We reveal that dualism has ontological origins and emerges from the progressive abandonment of the Aristotelian ontological framework and specifically his conceptualization of the four primary causes that are bound together in pairs by a reciprocal and total causality. Based on this observation, we then argue the need to scrutinize not only our epistemology and methods, but first and foremost, our ontological assumptions as they shape our structure of thought. We suggest two complementary ways to help us make these assumptions explicit and thus enable us to expand organization studies.

学者们强调，组织研究受到二元论的困扰，阻碍了新理论的发展。为了克服方方面面对立的二元论，我们采用哲学的方法来深入探讨其根源。我们揭示了二元论具有本体论起源，并源于对亚里士多德本体论框架的逐步放弃，特别是他对四个主要原因的概念化，这四个主要原因通过相互的和完全的因果关系成对地结合在一起。基于这一观察，我们认为不仅需要仔细审查我们的认识论和方法，而且首先需要审查我们的本体论假设，因为它们塑造了我们的思想结构。我们建议两种互补的方法来帮助我们明确这些假设，从而使我们能够扩大组织研究。