Social constructionism and the problems of constructive approach in epistemology

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.

DOI:10.5840/dspl20181216

Ref­er­ences:

  1. 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)
  2. 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)
  3. Ger­gen, K.J. Real­i­ties and Rela­tion­ships: Sound­ings in Social Con­struc­tion-ism. Cam­bridge: Har­vard Uni­ver­si­ty Press, 1994. 356 p.

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