The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: The Many Faces of Constructivism

Author(s): D. C. Phillips
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Educational Researcher, Vol. 24, No. 7 (Oct., 1995), pp. 5-12
Published by: American Educational Research Association
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 The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly:
The Many Faces of Constructivism

D. C. PHILLIPS

Educational Vol.24, No. 7, pp.5-12

Researcher, make good even on this promise is such a daunting task
that almost all of my discussion will have to remain de-
scriptive and clarificatory in orientation-to venture into
the broad fields of educational theory and re- criticisms (of which, I must admit, I have a number that I
Across
search, constructivism has become something akin to a regard as quite serious) would require more space than
secular religion. In her book Evolutionas a Religion(1985), even a tolerant editor of ER can make available. Besides
Mary Midgley wrote that the theory of evolution "is not which, informed critique must be based on a clear under-
just an inert piece of theoretical science. It is, and cannot standing of the position (or range of positions) being ex-
help being, also a powerful folk-tale about human origins. amined, and it is this necessary and preliminary task that
Any such narrative must have symbolic force" (1985, p. 1). will occupy me in the present article. My critical and eval-
She might well have written the same about construc- uative discussion will be held over to a longer work that is
tivism, which is, whatever else it may be, a "powerful folk- in preparation.' None of this, however, should be inter-
tale" about the origins of human knowledge. As in all preted as meaning that I find all constructivist views unat-
living religions, constructivism has many sects-each of tractive-I hold that there is a very broad and loose sense
which harbors some distrust of its rivals. This descent into in which all of us these days are constructivists, but, as
sectarianism, and the accompanying growth in distrust of usual, "God is in the details."
nonbelievers, is probably the fate of all large-scale move- To turn, then, to the descriptive task in hand: The ram-
ments inspired by interesting ideas; and it is the ideologi- pant sectarianism, coupled with the array of other litera-
cal or ugly side of the present scene, which is reflected in tures that contain pertinent material, makes it difficult to
my article's title. give even a cursory introductory account of construc-
The educational literature on constructivism is enor- tivism, for members of the various sects will object that
mous, and growing rapidly; a significant indicator is that their own views are nothing like this! But to get the dis-
the 1993 AERA Annual Meeting Program contained more cussion underway, this oversimple gloss should convey
than a score of sessions explicitly on this topic. Even as in- the general idea (a more precise account of the issues at
teresting a symposium as that which recently appeared in stake shall emerge as the discussion progresses): These
the EducationalResearcher(vol. 23, 7, 1994) was able to give days we do not believe that individuals come into the
only an inadequate hint of the many varieties of construc- world with their "cognitive data banks" already pre-
tivism that presently exist. It is part of my purpose in this stocked with empirical knowledge, or with pre-embedded
essay to complicate matters even more by pointing to rele- epistemological criteria or methodological rules. Nor do
vant discussions in other literatures that are rarely, if ever, we believe that most of our knowledge is acquired, ready-
mentioned by those embroiled in the educational debates. formed, by some sort of direct perception or absorption.
In particular,I will try to show that in the fields of episte- Undoubtedly humans are born with somecognitive or epis-
mology and philosophy of science, in the relatively young temological equipment or potentialities (the nature and de-
discipline of science studies (an interdisciplinary philo- gree of which the experts in developmental psychology
sophical, sociological, and historical field), and in the still dispute-witness, for example, the well-known argu-
rapidly burgeoning feminist literature,there is much of rel- ment between Piaget and Chomsky about innateness and
evance and interest to be found. The term constructivism genetic programming), but by and large human knowl-
does not occur with great frequency in these other bodies edge, and the criteriaand methods we use in our inquiries,
of literature-for example, the recent encyclopedic volume are all constructed.Furthermore, the bodies of knowledge
edited by Dancy and Sosa (1992), A Companionto Episte- available to the growing learner are themselves human
mology,gives it only three passing references-but never- constructs-physics, biology, sociology, and even philoso-
theless closely related ideas are the subject of vigorous phy are not disciplines the content of which was handed
debate. down, ready formed, from on high; scholars have labored
To compensate for introducing these new complexities, mightily over the generations to construct the content of
however, I also will offer a way of viewing the various these fields, and no doubt "internal politics" has played
forms of constructivism that, I claim, will produce some some role. Thus, in sum, human knowledge-whether it
order and clarity-I will argue that the main constructivist be the bodies of public knowledge known as the various
writers can be located along each of three different dimen- disciplines, or the cognitive structures of individual know-
sions or axes, and this highlights the relationships and dif- ers or learners-is constructed.And here, then, is the source
ferences between them. Given the volume of literature, to of an initial confusion: Some constructivist sects focus their

OCTOBER1995 5

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attention on the cognitive contents of the minds of indi- worse politicaluses, but thata philosopher'swork is good
vidual learners, others focus on the growth of the "public" to the extent that its substantive,technicalcontent is free
subject-matter domains, while a few brave groups tackle of politicalinfluence ....The work presentedheresupports
both-thus doubling the amount of quicksand that has to the hypothesisthatpoliticsintersecttraditionalepistemol-
be negotiated. The problem is that readers of the construc- ogy....[These essays] raisea questionaboutthe adequacy
of any account of knowledge that ignores the politics in-
tivist literature are usually left to figure out for themselves volved in knowledge.These essays show.., that to be ad-
which of these programs is being pursued. (For an argu-
equate,an epistemologymust attendto the complex ways
ment that these different domains must not be conflated, in which social values influenceknowledge (p. 13)
see Phillips, 1987, ch. 12.)
4. The work of Thomas S. Kuhn on scientific revolutions
The Range Of Constructivist Authors and paradigms has been a majorinfluence on several of the
Even on the basis of so preliminary and sketchy an ac- constructivist sects; for he stressed the active role of scien-
count, it should be clear that potentially there is an enor- tific communities in knowledge-construction. He wrote
mous number of authors, spanning a broad philosophical near the end of TheStructureof ScientificRevolutions:
or theoretical spectrum, who can be considered as being in
some sense constructivist. The following nonexhaustive The very existence of science depends upon vesting the
list is indicative of the range, complexity, and "symbolic power to choose between paradigmsin the membersof a
force" of constructivist ideas: special kind of community.Justhow specialthat commu-
1. Ernst von Glasersfeld, who has had very great influ- nity must be if science is to survive and grow may be in-
dicated by the very tenuousness of humanity's hold on
ence in the contemporary international science and mathe- the scientificenterprise . . .The bulk of scientificknowl-
matics education communities, quotes with some approval edge is a productof Europein the last four centuries.No
the words of Ludwig Fleck (1929), a precursor of Thomas other place and time has supportedthe very special com-
Kuhn-"The content of our knowledge must be consid- munitiesfromwhich scientificproductivitycomes (Kuhn,
ered the free creation of our culture. It resembles a tradi- 1962,pp. 166-167).
tional myth" (von Glasersfeld, 1991a, p. 118). Elsewhere he
writes that from 5. Jean Piaget is also generally regarded as a founda-
tional figure by many constructivists. The following is
the naive commonsense perspective, the elements that clear enough:
form this complex environmentbelong to a realworld of
unquestionableobjects,as realas the student, and these Fifty years of experiencehave taught us that knowledge
objects have an existence of their own, independent not does not result from a mere recording of observations
only of the student but also of the teacher.RadicalCon- without a structuringactivity on the part of the subject.
structivismis a theory of knowingwhich, for reasonsthat Nor do any a priorior innatecognitive structuresexist in
had nothing to do with teaching mathematicsor educa- man; the functioning of intelligence alone is hereditary
tion, does not accept this commonsense perspec- and creates structuresonly through an organizationof
tive. .. .Superficialor emotionally distractedreaders of successive actions performed on objects. Consequently,
the constructivistliteraturehave frequently interpreted an epistemologyconformingto the data of psychogenesis
this stance as a denial of "reality."(von Glasersfeld, could be neitherempiricistnor preformationist,but could
1991b,p. xv). consist only of a constructivism.(Piaget,1980,p. 23)

2. The complex epistemology of Immanuel Kant was 6. John Dewey, influenced here by William James, wrote
quintessentially constructivist. The human cognitive appa- that all the difficulties connected with the problem of
ratus (in particular our "category-governed modes of syn- knowledge spring
thesis" in the case of natural science, as one commentator
from a single root. They spring from the assumptionthat
put it) was responsible for shaping our experience, and the true and valid objectof knowledge is that which has
giving it causal, temporal, and spatial features. As Kant being prior to and independent of the operations of
wrote at the beginning of his Critiqueof Pure Reason,
knowing. They spring from the doctrinethat knowledge
But though all our knowledge beginswith experience,it is a grasp or beholding of realitywithout anythingbeing
does not follow that it all arises out of experience.For it done to modify its antecedentstate-the doctrinewhich
is the source of the separationof knowledge from practi-
may well be that even our empiricalknowledge is made cal activity.If we see that knowing is not the act of an out-
up of what we receive through impressions and of what side spectatorbut of a participatorinside the naturaland
our ownfacultyof knowledge...supplies from itself. If our
social scene, then the true objectof knowledge resides in
faculty of knowledge makes any such addition,it may be the consequencesof directedaction.(Dewey, 1960,p. 196)
thatwe arenot in a position to distinguishit fromthe raw
material. (Kant,1959,p. 25) An expanded list could be generated very easily, with
the addition of Jurgen Habermas, Giambattista Vico, soci-
3. In the introductory section of their edited volume Fem-
inist Epistemologies(1993), Linda Alcoff and Elizabeth Pot- ologists of knowledge such as David Bloor or BarryBarnes
or Steve Fuller,and a string of mainstream cognitive scien-
ter focus upon the sociopolitical processes by which our tists who have interests in learning (Donald Norman
public bodies of knowledge are constructed. They write would be a good example). If we were to move into main-
that the
stream educational writing, the list would become intoler-
philosophical myth, like the myth of natural science, is ably long.
that politics may motivate a philosopher to undertake As can be seen from even only the six views that have
philosophicalwork and that work may be put to betteror been quoted, constructivismcan be developed in interesting

6 EDUCATIONALRESEARCHER

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psychological, epistemological, sociological, and historical whether it is a public discipline), is the process one that is
directions. But because there are so many versions of con- influenced chiefly by the minds or creative intelligence of
structivism, with important overlaps but also with major the knower or knowers, together perhaps with the "so-
differences, it is difficult to see the forest for the trees-it is ciopolitical" factors that are present when knowers interact
a matter of pressing concern to find some way of categoriz- in a community? Or, at the other extreme, is the knowledge
ing them so that the overall picture does not get lost. "imposed" from the outside; does nature serve as an "in-
structor" or as a sort of template that the knowing subject
A Framework for Comparing Constructivisms
or subjects (or community of knowledge builders) merely
Each of the various forms of constructivism are complex; copy or absorb in a relatively passive fashion? In short, is
they are not "single issue" positions, but (explicitly or im- new knowledge-whether it be individual knowledge, or
plicitly) they address a number of deep problems. To take public discipline-made or discovered?
merely one example from the six figures cited earlier,Ernst It is arguable that theorists who occupy the "outer" or
von Glasersfeld is not simply putting forward a view about "externalnature" or "discovery" end of the axis-like, for
the teaching of mathematics and science; it is clear that he example, the late-17th-century British empiricist philoso-
is also advancing an epistemology, a psychology, and his pher John Locke-are at best only minimally constructivist
own interpretation of the history of science and philoso- in orientation, or are not constructivist at all, for in their
phy. But Piaget, Dewey, Kuhn, and the feminist epistemol- theories the contribution of human activity to knowledge
ogists are no less complicated. As a result of their construction is relatively insignificant. But "true-blue"con-
complexity, then, the various forms or sects of construc- structivists are spread out along the continuum, with some
tivism can be spread out along several different dimen- of them being nearer than others to the "outer"or "nature
sions or continua or axes (each of which represents one key as instructor"pole of the continuum.
issue); forms that are close along one axis (i.e., are close on It will be instructive to pursue the case of the empiricist
one issue) may be far apart on another. John Locke a little further. In his work, and that of his as-
1. The first axis or dimension requires relatively little dis- sociationist descendants, nature external to the knower is
cussion, as it was pretty obvious in the examples cited ear- the source of the sensations that produce "simple ideas"
lier. For convenience it can be given the label "individual fairly mechanically or automatically (although it is impor-
psychology versus public discipline." Some construc- tant to remember that for Locke other types of simple ideas
tivists-Piaget and Vygotsky would be quintessential fig- come from reflection or inner experience); and from these
ures here-have been concerned with how the individual simple units the more complex armamentarium of ideas is
learner goes about the construction of knowledge in his or built up by various inborn combinatorial processes (or fac-
her own cognitive apparatus; for other constructivists, ulties). The mind (or "the understanding") is described in
however, the individual learner is of little interest, and Locke's writings in very passive terms-the mind is a re-
what is the focus of concern is the construction of human ceptacle (an empty cabinet, a wax tablet, a piece of blotting
knowledge in general. Many recent feminist epistemolo- paper) for storing whatever ideas come from experience.
gists belong to this second group. In the middle of this first The mind is not able to produce simple ideas of its own, so
continuum, however, are a number of constructivists who that, for example, if the knower has not had experience of
have an interest in both poles, and who believe that their a particular color, he or she-no matter how clever--can-
theories throw light on both the question of how individu- not invent the simple idea of that color. Thus Locke writes,
als build up bodies of knowledge and how human com- using the example of a snowball:
munities have constructed the public bodies of knowledge
known as the various disciplines. Occasionally von The power to produce any idea in our mind, I call "qual-
Glasersfeld seems to be in this middle camp; certainly Im- ity" of the subjectwhereinthat power is. Thus a snowball
manuel Kant and Karl Popper are also to be found there. having the power to producein us the ideas of white, cold
It needs to be stressed that constructivists who have the and round, the powers to produce those ideas in us as
same general interest-for example in how individuals they are in the snowball, I call "qualities."(Locke,1947,
learn or construct knowledge-may differ markedly with p. 45)
respect to the mechanisms they see at work. Piaget and In short, it is the object in the external realm of nature-
Vygotsky, for example, gave quite different accounts of this the snowball-which is causally responsible (via experi-
matter; one stressed the biological/psychological mecha- ence) for producing our knowledge; the snowball's
nisms to be found in the individual learner, whereas
the other focussed on the social factors that influenced qualities have "the power to produce in us" the ideas of
whiteness and so on.
learning. The position just described hardly warrants the label
2. The second dimension or axis along which the various "constructivist"at all. What makes Locke's case more com-
versions of constructivism can be spread is, arguably, the
most crucial one (although it is also the most complex)- plex to assess is his insistence that once the "understand-
for it is the dimension that, in essence, allows us to define ing" is "furnished"with a number of (externally produced)
a thinker as being constructivist.For there is a point some- simple ideas, the mind can operate on these to construct
something new:
where along this dimension where one ceases to be a con-
structivist. This dimension or continuum can be In this faculty of repeatingand joining togetherits ideas,
characterized crudely in terms of the label "humans the the mind has greaterpower in varying and multiplying
creators versus nature the instructor."The issue is as fol- the objectsof its thoughts...It can, by its own power, put
lows: When knowledge is constructed (whether it is in the togetherthose ideas it has, and make new complex ones.
mind or cognitive apparatus of the individual learner, or (Locke,1947,p. 65.)

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Our simple ideas may be mere reflections of nature, but a. Members of the "strong program" in sociology of
complex ideas are produced (constructed) by the human knowledge (such as Barnes, 1974, Collins, 1985, and per-
mind. haps even Fuller, 1988)-who are working on the origin of
Unfortunately there is another complexity: Though the public bodies of knowledge known as the disciplines,
statements like this seem to place Locke over the border especially the sciences--can be read as being far from the
and into the constructivist camp, the picture is muddied "nature as template" view, but also as being far from the
again by the fact that in some places (although not in all) "individual creation of knowledge" view; when in their
Locke suggests that these combinatorial powers or facul- least compromising mood, they hold the view that so-
ties (that produce the complex ideas) are not only "wired ciopolitical processes can account fully for the form taken
in" before birth but also function virtually automatically. by the bodies of knowledge codified as the various disci-
(This is certainly the way the faculties are depicted in the plines.
"mental chemistry" of Locke's 19th-centuryfollowers; and b. Perhaps the clearest example of a theorist who also is
it should be noticed that there is a parallel issue here for far from the "nature as instructor" end of the continuum,
our contemporaries who are enamored of computational but who is not a social constructivist but instead stresses
theories of the mind-such theories sometimes are forced that knowledge construction is an individual matter, is
to assume the existence of an inner "homunculus,"to leave Ernst von Glasersfeld. He provides the following striking
some room for human creativity. See Searle, 1992, ch. 9). rejection of the "natureas template" view, and affirms that
The only thing that it seems safe to say, then, is that Locke it is the cognitive effort of the individual that results in the
is close to the "outside/instruction by nature/discovery" construction of knowledge:
end of the dimension under discussion here, and he also is
close to the outer perimeter of constructivism-which side The notion that knowledge is the result of a learner'sac-
of the border he actually is on is a difficult judgement call. tivity ratherthan that of the passive receptionof informa-
We do not have to look far for examples of theorists at tion or instruction, goes back to Socrates and is today
the other, "humans the creators" pole, of this second con- embraced by all who call themselves "constructivists."
structivist continuum or dimension. Most varieties of late However, the authors whose work is collected here, con-
stitute the radicalwing of the constructivistfront... .This
20th-century constructivism have as a major tenet the attitude is characterizedby the deliberateredefinitionof
claim that knowledge is produced by humans, in processes
the concept of knowledge as an adaptivefunction.In sim-
that are unconstrained-or minimally constrained-by in-
ple words, this means that the resultsof our cognitive ef-
puts or instruction from nature. But at this end of the con- forts have the purpose of helping us cope in the world of
tinuum there is a great deal of confusion, for (as we saw experience,ratherthan the traditionalgoal of furnishing
earlier) some constructivists are focusing upon how devel- an "objective"representation of a world as it might
oping individuals learn, whereas others are looking at how "exist"apart from us and our experience. (von Glasers-
the "public"disciplines originate. There is further bifurca- feld, 1991b,pp. xiv-xv)
tion even than this, for some hold that knowledge produc-
tion comes about solely from intellectual or cognitive Von Glasersfeld acknowledges a significant debt to Piaget,
processes internal to each individual knower, whereas for which may explain why he focuses on the individual
others the processes are regarded as sociopolitical (and knower, and pays scant attention to the social processes in
therefore in a sense public) and not simply or solely knowledge construction. (Von Glasersfeld's admirers may
"inner," mental or intellectual in nature. These various have their hackles raised by this last remark,for his educa-
views are combined in several different ways, as will be- tional concerns of course lead him to address the role of the
come evident later. On the principle that one picture is teacher.But he faces severe problems of consistency here:It
worth a thousand words, the accompanying diagram dis- is clear that in much of his writing von Glasersfeld prob-
plays the complexities of this second contructivist dimen- lematizes the notion of a "reality"external to the cognitive
sion. Several examples will illustrate some of the apparatus of the individual knower/learner. But as a re-
possibilities at the "humans the creators" end of this sec- sult, it is difficult to see how he can consistently allow that
ond dimension. social influences exist. After all, teachers and parents and

John Locke?
Sociopolitical
construction
}
" Knowledge in
0individuals or
bodies
disciplinary
of knowledge

Instructionby nature, Humansthe Individual

creation
nature as "template" creators of knowledge

FIGURE1. Complexitiesof the secondconstructivistdimension.

8 EDUCATIONALRESEARCHER

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siblings and so forth-no less than the atoms and mole- Talksto Teacherson Psychology).Dewey picked up on all
cules and forces of the external physical universe-are part this, and consistently expounded his own constructivist
of the realm external to the knower that von Glasersfeld is view of knowledge in contrast to the errors of the "specta-
so skeptical about.) tor theory." (See, for example, Dewey's The Quest for Cer-
KarlPopper is a philosopher who is situated at about the tainty, 1960.)
middle of the "humans the creators versus nature the in- The spectator theory, as Dewey interpreted it, can be ex-
structor" continuum, for his theory of the development of plicated by means of an analogy with football. According
knowledge can be summarized as "man proposes, nature to the spectator theory, the way a knower obtains knowl-
disposes"-a view that nicely involves both poles of the edge is analogous to the way a person can learn about foot-
continuum. Popper's view offers both an account of the ball. He or she can learn by watching, by being a spectator;
growth of public bodies of knowledge (especially the sci- while learning, the spectator remains passive, and does not
ences), but it can also be interpreted in such a way as to affect the course of the game. In contrast, in the theory held
throw light on the psychology and epistemology of indi- by James and Dewey the knower is an organic part of the
vidual learning (Berkson & Wettersten, 1984). Popper was same situation as the material to be known. To return to the
fond of expounding his view in terms of a crude flow dia- football analogy, the person learning about football would
gram: be playing in the game; he or she would be affecting the
game and, in the process, obtaining knowledge about it-
problem->tentativetheory->errorelimination->newproblem the knower would be learning by participating or acting.
(It is interesting to note, as an aside, that the spectator the-
The tentative theory is a creation of the human intellect; the ory of knowledge has been largely ignored in the episte-
error elimination (via testing) is done by nature. mological literatureof the last few decades; Kulp, 1992, has
3. The third dimension for comparing types of construc- produced the only lengthy discussion of it, and although
tivism was touched on earlier: The construction of knowl- recognizing that it has some strengths, he reaches a gener-
edge is an active process, but the activity can be described ally negative conclusion. See also Phillips, 1971.) Lest all
in terms of individual cognition or else in terms of social this make Dewey seem unduly individualistic, it is impor-
and political processes (or, of course, in terms of both). Fur- tant to note that he also stressed the social nature of knowl-
thermore, this activity can either be physical or mental, or edge construction, both in individual learners and also
again both. If a theorist were to argue that knowledge con- with respect to the development of the public bodies of
struction is carried out automatically, by the following of knowledge codified in the various disciplines; but the so-
some predetermined inflexible routine or by some me- cial activity he depicted was always harmonious and co-
chanical process, then his or her work would not count as operative-unlike many social constructivists in the late
constructivist; we saw in the case of John Locke that inso- 20th century he did not pay much attention to the internal
far as he postulated that simple ideas were built into com- politics of knowledge producing communities, or the ef-
plex knowledge by "prewired"cognitive processes (to use fects of power differentials on the types of knowledge pro-
contemporary idiom rather than Locke's terminology), he duced.
could not be regarded as being situated within the general To turn to the other end or pole of this particulardimen-
constructivist camp-for although there is a place for men- sion, Lynn Hankinson Nelson stresses that knowledge con-
tal activity in his model, it is not always clear that it is con- struction is an active process-even a struggle- carried
scious or deliberate activity of the knower. out by groups or communities, not by individuals. In an in-
A nice contrast with Locke is Jean Piaget (closely fol- teresting passage, she writes:
lowed here by von Glasersfeld); Piaget is as individualistic
as Locke with respect to how knowledge is constructed In suggesting thatit is communitiesthatconstructand ac-
(his voluminous writings only make scant reference to the quire knowledge, I do not mean (or "merely"mean) that
role of the social environment, and Piaget typically depicts what comes to be recognizedor "certified"as knowledge
the developing child as a lone, inventive young scientist, is the resultof collaborationbetween, consensusachieved
struggling to make independent sense of the surrounding by, political struggles engaged in, negotiations under-
taken among, or other activities engaged in by individu-
world). But Piaget does place enormous stress on the fact als who, as individuals,know in some logically or
that the young knower is both mentally and physically ac-
empirically"prior"sense... .Thechange I am proposing
tive; indeed, knowledge growth is described by Piaget in involves what we should construe as the agentsof these
terms of the dynamic processes of assimilation, accommo- activities. My arguments suggest that the collaborators,
dation, and equilibration, and the construction and inter- the consensus achievers,and, in more general terms, the
nalization of action schemas (see Phillips, 1987, ch. 13, for agents who generate knowledge are communities and
further discussion). subcommunities,not individuals. (Nelson, 1993,p. 124)
Another important example of active constructivism is
provided by the work of John Dewey and William James. Examining the range of contemporary constructivist writ-
Both these pragmatists (together with latter-day admirers ers who see the development of knowledge as essentially
such as Richard Rorty; see Kulp, 1992) vigorously attack social in nature, it turns out that most hold that knowledge
what they call the "spectatortheory of knowledge." In the construction is "rational"in that it proceeds deliberately
late 19th century James had written a critique of Herbert according to methodological rules and criteriathat are con-
Spencer's theory of mind, in which he said that mind was sciously held within a sociocultural group. But-impor-
not a spectator,but rather "the knower is an actor" (James, tantly-they stress that these rules and criteria were
1920, p. 67)-a view that James elsewhere argued was un- constructed by social processes, and thus were influenced
derwritten by evolutionary theory (see for example his by power relations, partisan interests, and so forth. Many

OCTOBER1995 9

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feminist epistemologists hold variants of this position. not be done in genuine isolation from a community (and
Other forms of constructivism-most notably the so-called without using communal standards). Thus, she argues,
"strong program" in sociology of knowledge associated knowledge must be viewed as being actively "constructed
with Barnes, Collins, and others (Barnes, 1974; Collins, not by individuals but by an interactive dialogic commu-
1985)-go somewhat further, and would put the explana- nity" (Longino, 1993, p. 112).In social science jargon, she is
tory burden even more firmly on sociological factors rather suggesting a change of the "unit of analysis" in epistemol-
than rational or quasirational considerations. As Martin ogy. Earlierwe met Nelson's rather similar views.
Hollis puts it, the strong program "distinguishes sharply
between intellectual systems and social systems, and tries Epistemological Versus Sociopolitical and Educational
to explain the former as an effect of the latter"(Hollis, 1992, Concerns
p. 77) To use an analogy, it is as if the strong program The three dimensions along which, I have argued, the var-
would have us explain what happened in, say, one of the ious forms or sects of constructivism can be located are all,
world championship chess games between the Russian to a greater or lesser degree, epistemicallyrelateddimen-
Kasparov and the British player Short in 1993, entirely in sions. Clearly, all forms of constructivism take a stand on
sociopolitical terms with no reference being made to the epistemological issues, but we will form a distorted picture
rules and theories and strategy of chess! (It is of more than of all of them if we let matters rest here. I believe it is im-
passing interest that Thomas S. Kuhn has recently stated portant to recognize that the constructivist sects also differ
that "I am among those who have found the claims of the with respect to the intensity with which they harbor vari-
strong program absurd: an example of deconstruction ous educational and sociopolitical concerns. For it is
gone mad." See Kuhn, 1992, p. 9.) apparent that although some constructivists have episte-
A contrasting and more conservative position would be mological enemies whom they are anxious to defeat, most
the one held by the philosopher of science Imre Lakatos: have pressing social and political concerns that motivate
Knowledge is actively built up over time within a research their work. It should not come as a surprise, of course, that
program that progresses as it responds to intellectual con- in the late 20th century many of those who hold a position
siderations (including data obtained from nature);and so- that is extremely sensitive to the fact that knowledge is
ciopolitical factors only enter the story when there is need produced should also have heightened sensitivity to the
to explain why the scientists involved in that particular re- sociopolitical conditions under which this production
search program lapsed into error or deviated from what takes place. What I am suggesting here is that it would be
would have been rationally optimal for them to believe, a mistake to think that when the philosophical concerns of
given the data available to them at the time (Lakatos,1978). the constructivists have been identified (and examined),
This gradation within the ranks of social constructivists our work is over-the concerns run deeper than this.
is nicely captured by the sociologist and historian of sci- Consider several obvious examples: von Glasersfeld,
ence who is one of the central figures in contemporary "sci- Dewey, and the feminist epistemologists. All of these make
ence studies," Bruno Latour: epistemological points of varying degrees of sophistication
(as has been sketched in the earlier discussion); but all of
"Radical,""progressivist,""conservative,""reactionary," them also have important educational or social concerns,
"goldenmean"....A radicalis someone who claims that each of which has a degree of credibilitythat is independent
scientificknowledge is entirely constructed"out of" so-
cial relations;a progressivistis someone who would say of the fate of the respective epistemologies. It even could be
that it is "partially"constructedout of social relationsbut argued that for many constructiviststhe latter concerns are
that nature somehow "leaksin" at the end. At the other more central. (And, of course, a reader can be sympathetic
side of this tug-of-war, a reactionaryis someone who to the educational or social concerns without being a fellow-
would claim science becomes really scientificonly when traveller with regard to the epistemology, or vice-versa.)
it finally sheds any trace of social construction;while a Thus, von Glasersfeld's epistemology, which I have
conservative would say that although science escapes claimed elsewhere is developed in a flawed way (Phillips,
from society there are still factorsfrom society that "leak 1992a;see also Matthews, 1992;1994, ch. 7), is an important
in" and influence its development. In the middle, would
be the marshof wishy-washy scholarswho add a little bit springboard from which he and the radical constructivists
of nature to a little bit of society and shun the two ex- have launched an important educational movement (see
tremes.(Latour,1992,p. 276) Noddings, 1990, for a somewhat similar assessment). His
individualism and subjectivism in epistemology leads him
The groundbreaking figure in the social-constructivist tra- (or perhaps was accepted because it allows him) to argue
dition, of course, is Thomas S. Kuhn; but the philosopher that each individual science and mathematics student is re-
Helen Longino is representative of much interesting work sponsible for building his or her own set of understandings
being done by contemporary feminist philosophers (inso- of these disciplines; teachers cannot assume that all stu-
far as any one person can represent such a diversified dents have the same set of understandings, or that their
field). Her position falls somewhere between those of the own ways of understanding are shared by their students.
"strong program" and Imre Lakatos. In her book Scienceas Moreover, it is clear from von Glasersfeld's perspective
SocialKnowledge(1990), and in a number of essays, she at- that everyone studying a field like science has his or her
tacks the assumption made within traditional individualis- own set of conceptions and preconceptions that influence
tic epistemology that a knower can be conceived validly as the course of subsequent learning; teachers should drop
being an isolated individual, stripped of interests, motives, the fashionable but misleading talk of student "misconcep-
biases, and other socially determined traits. Longino goes tions," for this implies that there is a standard set of "cor-
on to stress that a knower must be able to subject assump- rect" conceptions that all learners should have. One result
tions and knowledge-claims to critical scrutiny,which can- of all this is to highlight the need for individual attention

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to students, and the need to give guidance about how bod- solitary individual isolated from a historical and sociocul-
ies of understanding are built up. It couldbearguedherethat tural setting (this rival view, as we saw earlier, is close to
a weakor at least a controversialepistemologyhas becomethe that held by von Glasersfeld), they wish to highlight the de-
basisfor a strong pedagogicpolicy. Here is how one promi- gree to which these previously neglected social and politi-
nent researcherin the domains of science and mathematics cal factors play an epistemological role. Harding stresses
education summarizes the beneficial influence of radical that in a society that is stratified "by race, ethnicity, class,
constructivism: gender, sexuality, or some other such politics," the activities
of those at the top "both organize and set limits on what
When one applies constructivismto the issue of teaching,
one must rejectthe assumption that one can simply pass persons who perform such activities can understand about
themselves and the world around them" (Harding, 1993, p.
on informationto a set of learnersand expect that under-
54). Such activities, of course, include those in the episte-
standing will result. Communicationis a far more com-
plex processthan this. When teachingconcepts,as a form mological arena;and necessarily the knowledge generated
of communication,the teacher must form an adequate by such people is going to be deficient. However, the activ-
model of the student's ways of viewing an idea and s/he ities of marginalized people "at the bottom of such social
then must assist the student in restructuringthose views hierarchies"can provide a sounder starting point for epis-
to be more adequate from the student's and from the temological inquiry (p. 54). Harding's contention is that
teacher's perspective. Constructivismnot only empha- people at the bottom can generate more criticalquestions to
sizes the essential role of the constructiveprocess, it also guide inquiry, for their position is less "limiting" (p. 55). In
allows one to emphasize that we are at least partiallyable short, for Harding constructivist epistemological consider-
to be aware of those constructionsand then to modify ations (no matter how contentious) lead directly to the im-
them through our conscious reflectionon that construc-
tive process. (Confrey,1990,p. 109) portant issue of social empowerment.
Helen Longino, after citing the influence of Kuhn, Fey-
In the case of John Dewey, constructivist epistemology also erabend, and others, goes on to stress the ways in which
leads directly to social and pedagogic policies. (In his science is a communal rather than an individual endeavor;
Democracyand EducationDewey specifically claimed that scientific knowledge "is constructed...by individuals in
philosophy is the theory of education.) As he saw it, the interaction with one another in ways that modify their ob-
pedagogical and social ramifications of his epistemological servations, theories and hypotheses, and patterns of rea-
opposition to the spectator theory of knowledge were quite soning" (Longino, 1993, p. 111). She then discusses four
broad. Starting from the constructivist position that the criteriathat must be satisfied if "transformativecriticaldis-
knower is an "actor" rather than a "spectator," Dewey course" is to be achieved-there must be publicly recog-
staunchly advocated the use of activity methods in the nized forums; the community must not only tolerate
schoolroom-for students are potential knowers, yet tradi- dissent but its beliefs must actually change over time; there
tional schooling forces students into the mold of passive re- must be publicly recognized standards of evaluation of
ceptacles waiting to have information instilled, instead of theories, observations, and so on; and communities must
allowing them to move about, discuss, experiment, work be "characterizedby equality of intellectual authority" (pp.
on communal projects, pursue research outdoors in the 112-113). Perhaps Longino's overriding concern - which is
fields and indoors in the library and laboratory, and so both epistemological and social-is that "no segment of
forth. Consider this wonderful description of the tradi- the community, whether powerful or powerless, can claim
tional schoolroom, where his negative attitude to the pas- epistemic privilege" (p. 118).
sivity of the spectator theory is crystal clear: Concluding Remarks
Just as the biologist can take a bone or two and recon- I opened the present discussion by identifying the quasi-
struct the whole animal, so, if we put before the mind's religious or ideological aspects of constructivism as being
eye the ordinaryschoolroom,with its rows of ugly desks ugly. The good,as I hope I have made clear, is the emphasis
placed in geometrical order, crowded together so that that various constructivist sects place on the necessity for
thereshall be as little moving room as possible.. .and add active participationby the learner,together with the recog-
a table, some chairs, the bare walls, and possibly a few nition (by most of them) of the social nature of learning; it
pictures,we can reconstructthe only educationalactivity seems clear that, with respect to their stance on education,
that can possibly go on in such a place. It is all made "for
most types of constructivism are modern forms of progres-
listening."(Dewey, 1899/1969, p. 31)
sivism. Constructivism also deserves praise for bringing
The general idea should now be clear enough; the inter- epistemological issues to the fore in the discussion of learn-
ested reader can try his or her own hand at constructing an ing and the curriculum;while I do not agree with some (or
analysis of the broader concerns that are tied in with Pi- even many) of their specific philosophical points, the level
aget's and Habermas's views on the construction of knowl- of sophistication of the debates in education journals is
edge (to mention only two of the other most obvious much improved as a result of their presence. The bad,
examples). But a third example is worth pursuing here, for which I have not been able to document adequately in the
it leads in quite a different sociopolitical direction. present discussion, is the tendency within many forms of
Feminist epistemologists such as Sandra Harding and constructivist epistemology (despite occasional protesta-
Helen Longino clearly have social concerns that reinforce tions to the contrary) towards relativism, or towards treat-
their commitment to their respective social-constructivist ing the justification of our knowledge as being entirely a
epistemologies (the two have philosophies that are similar matter of sociopolitical processes or consensus, or toward
but by no means identical). In stressing that the knower the jettisoning of any substantial rational justification or
cannot be conceived as being an artificially objectified and warrant at all (as is arguably the case with the radical con-

OCTOBER1995 11

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structivists). My own view is that any defensible episte- Kulp, C. B. (1992). The end of epistemology.Westport, CT: Greenwood
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mology must recognize-and not just pay lip service to- Lakatos, I. (1970). Falsification and the methodology of scientific re-
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room for us to improve the nature and operation of our Lakatos, I. (1978). History of science and its rational reconstructions.
In I. Lakatos, The methodology of scientific research programs (pp.
knowledge-constructing communities, to make them more 102-138). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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(Ed.), The social dimensionsof science (pp. 272-294). Notre Dame, IN:
Notes University of Notre Dame Press.
Locke, J. (1947). An essay concerning human understanding. London:
This essay is based upon a Royal Institute of Philosophy (Northern Dent/Everyman.
Branch) lecture, delivered at Durham University, UK, in November Longino, H. (1990). Scienceas social knowledge.Princeton, NJ: Princeton
1993; an updated version was also presented at a meeting of the Cali- University Press.
fornia Association for Philosophy of Education in Los Angeles, No- Longino, H. (1993). Subjects, power and knowledge: Description and
vember 1994, and as a plenary address at N.A.R.S.T. in San Francisco prescription in feminist philosophies of science. In L. Alcoff & E. Pot-
in April 1995. Helpful comments were given by participants at these ter (Eds.), Feministepistemologies(pp. 101-120). New York:Routledge.
various meetings, and also by Peter Godfrey-Smith and Harvey Matthews, M. R. (1992). Old wine in new bottles: A problem with con-
Siegel. Finally, I am indebted to several anonymous reviewers for ER structivist epistemology. In H. Alexander (Ed.), Philosophyof educa-
for suggestions about sharpening the focus of this paper. tion 1992 (pp. 303-311). Proceedings of the Forty-Eighth Annual
1The present discussion will be incorporated into a book by the Meeting of the Philosophy of Education Society. Urbana, IL:Philos-
same author, to be published in 1996 by Routledge, where the issues ophy of Education Society, University of Illinois.
will be pursued in much greater detail. Matthews, M. R. (1994). Science teaching:The role of history and philoso-
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