Social Constructivism and the Philosophy of Science

Description

This is not a beginners book on Social Constructivism and probably should be read with a bit of existing background in the discourse which surrounds it. Otherwise, one might not fully appreciate or even understand why Kukla takes such issue with the nuance of definition in his treatment of constructivism. In all frankness, it is as dry as any academic philosophical work before it has been. One suggestion would be to use of headers in some of the moderately longer chapters to help re-affix the reader to the text and author's stance throughout the book. For these reasons, the book lost 1 star. However, the four star rating reflects the fact that Kukla has done a thorough job of addressing various off-shoots of the nascent idea of constructionism and its development in modern times. I appreciate that when he has solid examples, he pulls them from numerous different disciplines rather than a single obscure area (like other philosophers). His explanations are very thoroughly articulated. I particularly liked the manner in which - in Chapter 13 - he delved into the problems with time for the causal constructionist. A good read for those that are interested - from an academic perspective - in better understanding this emerging strain of thought. 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