Open peer commentary on the target article “Who Conceives of Society?” by Ernst von Glasersfeld. First paragraph: I have long admired Ernst von Glasersfeld’s attempt to render rationally viable a radical constructivist epistemology. And, I have long wished to see him turn his attention more fully to issues of social interchange. The present offering moves cogently in this direction, and this is all to the good. However, immersed in the dialogues on social construction as I am, the offering also poses an array of particular problems, both intellectual and practical. I offer the following in the service of pressing forward the dialogues on knowledge, self and the social world.

This book contains 15 essays written between 1969 through 1983. The essays included are: (1) “Semantic Analysis of Verbs in Terms of Conceptual Situations”; (2) "“Because” and the Concepts of Causation”; (3) “The Development of Language as Purposive Behavior”; (4) “Adaptation and Viability”; (5) “On the Concept of Interpretation”; (6) “Piaget and the Radical Constructivist Epistemology”; (7) “The Construct of Identity or the Art of Disregarding a Difference”; (8) “The Concepts of Adaptation and Viability in a Radical Constructivist Theory of Knowledge”; (9) “Cybernetics, Experience, and the Concept of Self”; (10) “An Introduction to Radical Constructivism”; (11) “Feedback, Induction and Epistemology”; (12) “An Interpretation of Piaget’s Constructivism”; (13) “An Attentional Model for the Conceptual Construction of Units and Numbers”; (14) “Subitizing-The Role of Figural Patterns in the Development of Numerical Concepts”; and (15) “Learning as Constructive Activity.” These essays are categorized in three sections: language and semantics; constructivist epistemology; and concepts of number. A list of 106 publications written by the author from 1960 to 1987 is provided.

Key words: philosophy, language, radical constructivism

Purpose: An attempt to interpret the fragments of Parmenides as a first suggestion of a constructivist epistemology. Today, two and a half millennia later, no one can be sure of what exactly Parmenides had in mind. Method: Reviewing the varying translations of acknowledged experts and paying attention to what Plato said in his Parmenides dialog. Findings: We cannot be certain of any interpretation, but an epistemologically unbiased review of the translations shows that Parmenides may well have believed that experience is the domain accessible to human reason and the structure of the real world lies beyond it. Implications: Forerunners of constructivist ideas may have been overlooked because the interpreters of ancient texts were stuck in dogmatic views of “being.” When studying classical texts written in languages that are no longer spoken, it is fruitful to consult many different translations.

Key words: epistemology, existence, experience, interpretation, translation

Outline a dialectical constructivist epistemology and theory… and then apply it to understanding experiential change processes in psychotherapy / dialectics in its most essential form is rational analysis based on the splitting of a totality into its contradictory parts / the totality of interest here is the dynamic system of a client’s psychological processes / the contradictory parts are the different psychological processes that, when brought into contact, often interact to produce therapeutic transformations, self-development, or novelty through a dialectical synthesis of the components / dialectical constructivism therefore explains human functioning and development in terms of the relations between parts / the dialectic with which we are most concerned is that involved in the type of construction of meaning characteristic of life-engaged consciousness… called vital reason / it is with this dialectic that therapists need to work if they are to produce enduring change illuminate the dialectical construction of meaning through a synthesis of bodily felt internal complexity with language-based explanations, by using the theory [of constructive operators]

Urban areas are administratively complex, and bureaucrats are often overburdened when they are working at or beyond what Herbert Simon called the bounds of their rationality. Decisions impacting community group members may be based on little genuine knowledge of issues. Groups concerned with particular issues may emerge in the community. Given their focus and interests, group members will collect and construct issue-related knowledge that can be assembled into proposals. However, it is often difficult for people to form such networks and discover what their various interested members know to construct the collective knowledge. Also, such community knowledge is often ignored by governing bodies and their bureaucracies. This chapter reviews this situation from deep theoretical, technological and practical points of view and shows how simple to use and freely available social networking tools in the cloud can be applied to effectively support knowledge based community action. Relevance: The theoretical framework for the paper begins with the sociological concept of “community action” in a complex systems hierarchy and considers the autopoietic construction of knowledge within emergent knowledge-based action groups. A Popperian evolutionary/constructivist epistemology is followed.

We explore Ernst von Glaserfeld‘s radical constructivism, its criticisms, and our own thoughts on what it promises for the reform of science and mathematics teaching. Our investigation reveals that many criticisms of radical constructivism are unwarranted; nevertheless, in its current cognitivist form radical constructivism may be insufficient to empower teachers to overcome objectivist cultural traditions. Teachers need to be empowered with rich understandings of philosophies of science and mathematics that endorse relativist epistemologies; for without such they are unlikely to be prepared to reconstruct their pedagogical practices. More importantly, however, is a need for a powerful social epistemology to serve as a referent for regenerating the culture of science education. We recommend blending radical constructivism with Habermas‘ ’theory of communicative action‘ to provide science teachers with a moral imperative for adopting a constructivist epistemology.

As discussions about so‐called ‘epistemology’ have receded within family therapy, discussions about te doctrine of constructivism have emerged to carry on the underlying impulse of those earlier discussions. This article contends that a constructivist epistemology is not a new doctrine in family therapy, but, rather, reflects a shift in emphasis in that discipline from a nontraditional use to the traditional use of the term “epistemology” uses that coexisted during the ‘epistemology’ debates of the early 1980s and that were the source of many confusions and logical contradictions. The articale also demonstrates how recent articulations of cosnstructivism have resulted in the same logical contradictions tht were committed during the earlier ‘epistemology’; debates. The logic and utility of applying constructivism in particular, and epistemological analysis in general, to the practice of psychotherapy are questioned and considered.

Context: Structural design education in architecture is typically conceived as a scientific subject taught in a lecture format and based on a transactional view of learning. This approach misses opportunities to contribute to and integrate with design-studio-based architectural education. Problem: How can radical constructivism inform a design-based pedagogy of structural design in the context of large cohorts of Chinese learners? Method: The paper outlines how radical constructivist and second order cybernetic perspectives are reflected in an alternative educational approach to structural design. This approach encourages students’ individual learning while negotiating constraints deriving from large cohorts as well as the educational expectations of Chinese learners. Results: Teaching outcomes as well as students’ comments show successes in engaging students in adopting a more personal and active attitude in their learning. Students appreciate and praise learning grounded in experience as well as collaborative, peer-led learning. Challenges remain in establishing a more dialogical learning situation and in supporting individual students’ learning in large student cohorts. Implications: Limitations arise from the constraints imposed by large cohorts, limited manpower and an institutional preference for teaching towards written examinations. The research and teaching development presented are ongoing. This paper may inform educators in the fields of architecture and engineering as well as, more generally, educators who seek to develop their teaching based on a radical constructivist epistemology in the context of large cohorts. Constructivist content: The teaching approach presented links a radical constructivist perspective based on Ernst von Glasersfeld’s work with second-order cybernetics in the context of design-based education. The paper discusses challenges and opportunities for this approach in the context of large cohorts of Chinese learners.

Key words: Experiential learning, Ernst von Glasersfeld, learning through design, feedback, Chinese learners.

Abstract: It is trendy to be a “ constructivist,” although this designation is not very illuminating, since very divergent positions are subsumed under this lobe!. In order to arrive at a more precise idea of what constructivism is or might be, exemplary text passages taken from the discussion of radical constructivism in the United States in the past few years are analyzed. Against the background of two contrasting epistemological positions (“objectivism” and “ constructivism”), constructivism in the field of education defines itself by its reference to constructivist epistemology and by the assumption that instructional design can be deduced, as it were, from an epistemology. This “ deduction assumption,” though, leads to a problematic confounding of epistemological and pedagogical perspectives – this is especially true of the central concept of “construction” – and to an apparent antithesis of “ objectivistic” and “constructivistic” instructional design. Constructivism’s dichotomic approach permeates all spheres of instructional design and tends to lead to a lack of necessary differentiation and to obscure relevant pedagogic problems and contexts. Therefore, it is proposed to dispense with the concept of “constructivism” in the pedagogic field altogether and to join instead Greeno’s search for a synthesis of cognitive psychology and situated learning.

Open peer commentary on the article “Towards a Dialogue Among Constructivist Research Programs” by Gastón Becerra & José Antonio Castorina. Upshot: Gastón Becerra and José Antonio Castorina compare a selection of constructivist epistemologies aiming at a general definition of constructivist epistemology. While I can agree on many aspects of their critical analysis, I want to underline some concerns but also argue for enhanced methodological perspectives.