Social Constructivism and the Philosophy of Science

Description

Social constructionists maintain that we invent the properties of the world rather than discover them. Is reality constructed by our own activity? Do we collectively invent the world rather than discover it? André Kukla presents a comprehensive discussion of the philosophical issues that arise out of this debate, analysing the various strengths and weaknesses of a range of constructivist arguments and arguing that current philosophical objections to constructivism are inconclusive. However, Kukla offers and develops new objections to constructivism, distinguishing between the social causes of scientific beliefs and the view that all ascertainable facts are constructed. Front Cover......Page 1 Back Cover......Page 2 TOC......Page 4 Preface......Page 6 Acknowledgements......Page 8 1 - Defining constructivism......Page 9 2 - Constructivism and the sociology of scientific knowledge......Page 15 3 - The varieties of dependence......Page 27 4 - The varieties of constitutive constructivisms......Page 32 5 - The empirical case for constructivism......Page 40 6 - The a priori case for constructivism......Page 52 7 - Three brief and inadequate objections to constructivism......Page 54 8 - The problem of misrepresentation......Page 59 9 - Constructive empiricism and social constructivism......Page 67 10 - The infinite regress of constructions......Page 76 11 - The Duhemian asymmetry......Page 88 12 - The problem of the two societies......Page 99 13 - Constructivism and time......Page 113 14 - Constructivism and logic......Page 127 15 - Relativism......Page 133 16 - Semantic constructivism......Page 144 17 - Irrationalism......Page 157 18 - Conclusions......Page 168 References......Page 172 Index......Page 176