The consideration of the relation of mutual specification between a distinguished whole and the parts distinguished in it, and of their specification of two nonintersecting phenomenal domains, constitute the starting point for a radical constructivist redefinition of the ‘mind-body problem’ (MBP), where the opposition between mind and body turns into a relation of complementarity between components of a larger (social, ecological) whole. The implications as to the traditional views on the MBP are outlined, stressing in particular the overcoming of the holism/reductionism and parallelism/interactionism dualities.

Children’s self concepts are important constructions of their experience in childhood. Following Ernst von Glasersfeld’s approach, self concepts are personal organisations of self-other experiences. Heroes reflect what the child has chosen as important and so offer insight into how the child has selected values in her culture. Digital culture is becoming increasingly global and accessible. It is important to see how participation in the European Union (EU) global economic culture is changing young people’s self-images. Representations of heroic figures in questionnaires given to Irish (n = 239) and Slovenian (n = 389) samples of 15-year-olds were examined to assess the extent to which heroes originated in film and television, and whether the heroic figures were local or global personalities. The degree to which age and gender influence choice of hero was examined within the Irish sample, which also included 10-year-olds (n = 316). There is strong evidence that heroes in this sample were largely learned about on film and television, since family or community heroes were a minority (Ireland 23%, Slovenia 17%). Children chose male heroes more often than female heroes, though a child’s sex was associated with sex of hero chosen. Family, sport and musical heroes were more important in Ireland than Slovenia, and audio-visual heroes were more important in Slovenia. In the digital age the sequence for acquisition of hero type reported in the pre-television era – proximal (family and community) to distal (beyond the neighbourhood) – seems to have disappeared. Relevance: People’s heroes play an important role in their identity. Cultural differences are reflected in the choices made by this sample of young Irish and Slovene participants.

Key words: Heroes, school age sample, heroic domains, youth culture, identity

Vico’s constructivist epistemology is compared with that of Piaget with a view to clarifying Piaget’s theory of knowledge. Piaget’s interpreters often show a lack of concern with the metaphysical foundations of cognitive structures. Vico’s emphasis on the limitations of human knowledge, therefore, is helpful in avoiding interpretive inconsistency. In Vico’s and in Piaget’s radical constructivism, knowledge is non-ontological in the sense that no claims may be made about the relation between cognitive structures and reality. Structural adequacy is derived from the consistency of the self-referencing cognitive system.

Key words: radical constructivism, history

This study investigated children’s attitudes towards children with Down syndrome in Ireland, France, Portugal and Spain. A sample of 805 children divided approximately equally by country, sex, grade level (9 and 11 years of age), and school type (inclusive or non-inclusive) participated in the study. Differences are reported for each independent variable on three dependent variables, sociability, attitude to inclusion and use of negative words to describe a child with Down syndrome. The study is one of a series that examined empirically how children construe their ideas about children with learning difficulties. Some used constructivist approaches in classrooms with a view to seeing if such experiences led to differentiation of the children’s ideas. The approaches were inspired by Jean Piaget’s and Ernst von Glasersfeld’s work. Relevance: This article shows how children think about children with Down Syndrome with different ideas. It provides ideas for teachers who want to work with children with fixed ideas about children with Down Syndrome

Key words: Constructivism, children, education, Down Syndrome

This paper attempts to reformulate the basic ideas of the constructivist theory of knowing in the light of the most common objections the theory has met in the course of its development as an independent epistemology during the past two decades. It will be published in the Irish Journal of Psychology under the title Radical Constructivism – Two Perspectives, together with a second paper by Lynn Hoffman that documents and discusses the theory’s application and implementation in the practice of family therapy.

Key words: radical constructivism

Key words: Jean Piaget, radical constructivism, history

The application of social constructivist thought and the concept of autopoiesis are discussed in relationship to the clinical practice of psychotherapy. After a brief discussion of these concepts, a theoretical basis for clinical practice is presented, focusing on the idea that human systems are essentially meaning generating systems. The concept of Problem Determined Systems is elaborated. The development of problem definitions, the management of the therapeutic conversation, and revised conceptualisations of the psychotherapeutic endeavour are discussed.

Hoffman details her shifts in therapeutic epistemology and describes the movements taken by family therapists in adopting a perspective which describes reality as that constructed by the observing system. In highlighting the centrality of ‘meaning’ to the constructivist position, she also emphasises the relevance of recognising a system as defined by a problem. She then examines the work and development of major constructivist contributors to family therapy practice, especially of those participating in and influenced by the Milan team.

This article, in the form of a dialogue between a poet and a family therapist, attempts to create a context for the emergence of a ‘Dostoyevskian dialogue’ wherein all voices may be heard and no final authoratative voice exists. This form is contrasted with autonomous monologue, Batesonian metalogue, self-refuting negate-alogues, and Socratic dialogue. Particular attention is paid to the ongoing dialogue between family therapists and neurobiologists. A critique is made of the passive acceptance by therapists of the neurobiologists’ pre-emptive prescriptions regarding how one must interact with their dialogues which become, in effect, repetitive rhetoric.

The constructivist self-organising theories of George Kelly and Ernst von Glasersfeld are discussed in relation to Maturana’s theory of bringing forth reality. Taking Maturana’s dichotomy of the transcendental versus the constitutive pathways as the initial distinction, several of their similarities and differences are elaborated. While both camps agree on the issues of the abandonment of symbolic representations and the impossibility of instructional interactions, they polarise on the issue of reality. While Maturana sees reality as a step in an argument to compel or persuade another to carry out a specified behaviour, the constructivists rely on reality as a primary source of disconfirmation, and thus construe it as providing constraints to which we must fit.