Vladislav A. Lektorski
Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences
Social constructionism and the problems of constructive approach in epistemology
Abstract. The paper considers the place of social constructionism in a broader context of epistemological constructivism, as well as the views that the former holds on the possibilities of the human sciences. The author gives some criticism on the social constructionism and argues that constructed objects (both material and ideal) are able to move away from their creator and start living an actual independent life. The paper advocates the constructive realism standpoint.
Keywords: constructivism, social constructionism, realism, relativism.
References:
- Lektorski, V.A. Realizm, anti-realizm, konstruktivizm i konstruktivnyy realizm v epistemologii i naukakh o cheloveke [Realism, Anti-realism, Con-structivism and Constructive Realism in Epistemology and Human Sciences], in: Konstruktivistskiy podkhod v epistemologii i naukakh o cheloveke [Constructivist approach in epistemology and human sciences] / V.A. Lektorski (ed.). Moscow: Canon+, 2009, pp. 5–40. (In Russian)
- Shotter, J. “Bakhtin i L.S. Vygotskiy: interiorizatsiya kak ‘fenomen granitsy’” [Bakhtin and Vygotsky: Internalization as a boundary phenomenon], Voprosy psykhologhii, 1996, no. 6, pp. 107–117. (In Russian)
- Gergen, K.J. Realities and Relationships: Soundings in Social Construction-ism. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1994. 356 p.