Radical Constructivism: A Tool, not a Super Theory!
Siegfried J. Schmidt
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Abstract
Problem: An answer to the question of whether or not Radical Constructivism RC can or will become a mainstream endeavour is difficult, because what is called RC is a bundle of quite divergent approaches and not a homogenous (super) theory. Therefore the article concentrates upon “classical” RC as developed first of all by von Glasersfeld, von Foerster and Maturana and Varela. The pros and cons of their approaches are discussed and evaluated. Solution: In order to overcome the most obvious problems of RC, a strict process-oriented kind of argumentation is developed that replaces is/is not assertions with descriptions of processes and their results, thus answering the question of what might reasonably be called “construction.” Benefit: The paper presents a way of rewriting RC, i.e., avoiding its evident problems, without abandoning the insights that RC thinkers have gained in the past.
Key words: observation, self-organization, process, construction
Citation
Schmidt S. J. (2010) Radical constructivism: A tool, not a super theory! Constructivist Foundations 6(1): 6–11. http://constructivist.info/6/1/006
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References
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