Open peer commentary on the article “Second-Order Cybernetics as a Fundamental Revolution in Science” by Stuart A. Umpleby. Upshot: Connecting Umpleby’s article with Piaget and García’s genetic epistemology, I will argue that the revolution the former discerns is more comprehensive. Additionally, since the latter differ from cybernetic and radical traditions in their philosophical assumptions about society and its conditioning on knowledge, I will suggest that these assumptions must be considered to explain each constructivist program’s achievements and challenges.
Chiari G. & Nuzzo M. L. (2010) Constructivist psychotherapy: A narrative hermeneutic approach. Routledge, London. Reviewed in Constructivist Foundations 5(2)
A book that proposes to outline a systematic approach to psychotherapy cannot omit describing the psychological theory such an approach belongs to. George A. Kelly had the same opinion, in that he put an analysis of the differences between the philosophical assumptions of “accumulative fragmentalism” and “constructive alternativism” before the exposition of his theory of personality and his psychotherapeutic proposal. Choosing the title for the book “Constructivist Psychotherapy: A Narrative Hermeneutic Approach” represents the attempt to mark a significant differentiation from the more orthodox expositions of Kelly’s personal construct psychotherapy on which we heavily base our approach, and at the same time to specify as much as possible our metatheoretical and theoretical references. Relevance: The book has an extensive exposition of the different constructivist views on knowledge with their links with genetic epistemology, autopoietic theory, phenomenology, hermeneutics, social constructionism, radical constructivism.
Confrey J. (2011) The Transformational Epistemology of Radical Constructivism: A Tribute to Ernst von Glasersfeld. Constructivist Foundations 6(2): 177–182. https://constructivist.info/6/2/177
Problem: What is it that Ernst von Glasersfeld brought to mathematics education with radical constructivism? Method: Key ideas in the author’s early thinking are related to ideas that are central in constructivism, with the aim of showing their importance in math education. Results: The author’s initial thinking about constructivism began with Toulmin’s view of thinking as evolving. Ernst showed how Piaget’s genetic epistemology implied an epistemology that was not about ontology. Continuing with an analysis of the way radical and trivial constructivism were received by the mathematics education community, implications of Ernst’s ideas are considered. Implications: These include the need to consider major changes in ways content is introduced to children, to consider carefully the language used to describe children’s emerging mathematical ideas, and to consider new conjectures and also how we think about the foundations of mathematics. Ultimately the value of RC is the way it reinspires belief in the possibility and importance of human growth.
This article presents a constructivist model of human cognitive development during infancy. According to constructivism, the elements of mental representation-even such basic elements as the concept of physical object-are constructed afresh by each individual, rather than being innately supplied. A (partially-specified, yet-unimplemented) mechanism, the Schema Mechanism, is proposed here; this mechanism is intended to achieve a series of cognitive constructions characteristic of infants' sensorimotor-stage development, primarily as described by Piaget. In reference to Piaget's “genetic epistemology”, I call this approach genetic AI-“genetic” not in the sense of genes, but in the sense of genesis: development from the point of origin. The Schema Mechanism focuses on Piaget's concept of the activity and evolution of cognitive schemas. The schema is construed here as a context-sensitive prediction of what will follow a certain action. Schemas are used both as assertions about the world, and as elements of plans to achieve goals. A mechanism of attribution causes a schema's assertion to be extended or revised according to the observed effects of the schema's action; due to the possible relevance of conjunctions of context conditions, the attribution facility needs to be able to sort through a combinatorial explosion of hypotheses. Crucially, the mechanism constructs representations of new actions and state elements, in terms of which schemas are expressed. Included here is a sketch of the proposed Schema Mechanism, and highlights of a hypothetical scenario of the mechanism's operation. The Schema Mechanism starts with a set of sensory and motor primitives as its sole units of representation. As with the Piagetian neonate, this leads to a “solipsist” conception: the world consists of sensory impressions transformed by motor actions. My scenario suggests how the mechanism might progress from there to conceiving of objects in space-representing an object independently of how it is currently perceived, or even whether it is currently perceived. The details of this progression paralledl the Piagetian development of object conception from the first through fifth sensorimotor stage.
Gash H. (1983) Vico’s theory of knowledge and some problems in genetic epistemology. Human Development 26(1): 1–10. https://cepa.info/3768
Two aspects of Vico’s constructivist epistemology are germane to contemporary cognitive developmental psychology. These aspects are Vico’s account of cognitive operations and of the limits to human knowledge of the world. Drawing on Vico’s epistemological treatise, and on contemporary commentary on Vico, it is argued that this eighteenth-century constructivist epistemology is useful in two ways. First, by being a consistent, and so radical, constructivism it may be helpful in clarifying the meaning of the environment in Piaget’s theory. Second, the description of mental operations may provide a way of overcoming objections to the overly formal quality of Piaget’s basic concrete-operational structures.
Gash H. (2019) Radical constructivism and tolerance. In: Hug T., Mitterer J. & Schorner M. (eds.) Radikaler Konstruktivismus, Vergangenheit, Gegenwart und Zukunft. Ernst von Glasersfeld (1917–2010). Innsbruck University Press, Innsbruck: 189–204. https://cepa.info/6142
Ernst von Glasersfeld (1974) used the phrase Radical Constructivism (RC) in the context of clarifying the meaning of Piaget’s genetic epistemology. Initially, much of the work that followed was directly related to educational issues and topics like maths and science. The implications of radical constructivism for social understandings led the present author to study stereotypes. This work emphasised the role of identity in prejudice. Identity as an individual construction is related to one’s interpretations of the social heuristics and world views of one’s culture. Balancing self-perception with acceptable cultural expression is a key to well-being, personal development and one’s social functioning.
Glasersfeld E. von (1979) Radical constructivism and Jean Piaget’s concept of knowledge. In: Murray F. B. (ed.) The impact of Piagetian theory. University Park Press, Baltimore MD: 109–122. https://cepa.info/1340
Excerpt: After a short exposition of the traditional view of cognition and the concept of interaction between organism and environment, the epistemological ideas that have recently been developed in the field of cybernetics are outlined. The emerging radical constructivist model is then applied to the Piagetian concept of knowledge and it is suggested that this interpretation, though rarely explicitly stated, is implicit in Piaget’s genetic epistemology and is, indeed, necessary in order to make it an internally consistent theory of knowledge.
Glasersfeld E. von (1993) Learning and adaptation in the theory of constructivism. Communication and Cognition 26(3/4): 393–402. https://cepa.info/1446
Learning and adaptation are conceptually distinct and refer to different processes. Both concepts are incorporated in Piaget’s genetic epistemology and in the more radical constructivist model of cognition that has sprung from it. Misinterpretation of the different roles the two terms play in that theoretical model is one of the reasons why the constructivist approach has often been misunderstood by educators. In this paper I shall lay out the use of the two terms in the constructivist theory and give some indication of its application to learning and the practice of teaching.
Die epistemologische Stellungnahme, die ich in meinen Büchern ausgeführt habe, wird hier kurz zusammengefaßt. Die Herkunft der konstruktivistischen Wissenstheorie aus vier Quellen – die Tradition des Skeptizismus, Jean Piagets Genetische Epistemologie, Ideen der Kybernetik und operationale Analyse der sprachlichen Kommunikation – werden erläutert und die konstruktivistische Orientierung im Aufbau grundlegender Begriffe wird an Hand von einigen Beispielen gezeigt. English: The paper is a brief exposition of the epistemological position I have presented in a number of books. The four, sources of the constructivist theory of knowing are explained: The tradition of scepticism, Jean Piaget’s Genetic Epistemology, cybernetical ideas, and the operational analysis of linguistic communication. The constructivist method of conceptual analysis is demonstrated with some basic examples.
Self-organization is one of the central concerns of cybernetics. In 1937, twelve years before Norbert Wiener’s first book, Jean Piaget published an extensive study of his model of the child as a self-organizing cognitive agent that constructs its own knowledge. In this paper I shall survey some of the fundamental commonalities of Jean Piaget’s genetic epistemology and cybernetical thinking.