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HandWiki. Constructivist Epistemology. Encyclopedia. Available online: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/36881 (accessed on 17 September 2026).
HandWiki. Constructivist Epistemology. Encyclopedia. Available at: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/36881. Accessed September 17, 2026.
HandWiki. "Constructivist Epistemology" Encyclopedia, https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/36881 (accessed September 17, 2026).
HandWiki. (2022, November 28). Constructivist Epistemology. In Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/36881
HandWiki. "Constructivist Epistemology." Encyclopedia. Web. 28 November, 2022.
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Constructivist epistemology is a branch in philosophy of science maintaining that scientific knowledge is constructed by the scientific community, who seek to measure and construct models of the natural world. Natural science therefore consists of mental constructs that aim to explain sensory experience and measurements. According to constructivists, the world is independent of human minds, but knowledge of the world is always a human and social construction. Constructivism opposes the philosophy of objectivism, embracing the belief that a human can come to know the truth about the natural world not mediated by scientific approximations with different degrees of validity and accuracy. According to constructivists there is no single valid methodology in science, but rather a diversity of useful methods.
philosophy of science
scientific knowledge
mental constructs
References
- National Science Foundation. Award Abstract #8751190, Constructionism: A New Opportunity for Elementary Science Education http://nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=8751190
- Thomas S Kuhn (1966). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (2nd ed.). University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226458121. http://turkpsikiyatri.org/arsiv/kuhn-ssr-2nded.pdf. "A paradigm governs, in the first instance, not a subject matter but rather a group of practitioners. Any study ... must begin by locating the responsible group or groups."
- Eugene V. Koonin (2011). The Logic of Chance: The Nature and Origin of Biological Evolution. FT Press Science, a division of Pearson Education, Inc. p. 427. ISBN 013262317X. https://books.google.com/books?id=fvmv2kU6PrYC&pg=PA427.
- Stephen Hawking, Leonard Mlodinow (2011). The Grand Design. Random House Digital, Inc. p. 8. ISBN 0553907077. https://books.google.com/books?id=RoO9jkV-yzIC&pg=PA8. "We shall adopt an approach that we call model-dependent realism. It is based on the idea that our brains interpret the input from our sensory organs by making a model of the world. When such a model is successful at explaining events, we tend to attribute to it, and to the elements and concepts that constitute it, the quality of reality or absolute truth. But there may be different ways in which one could model the same physical situation, with each employing different fundamental elements and concepts. If two such ...theories or models accurately predict the same events, one cannot be said to be more real than the other; rather we are free to use whichever model is the most convenient."
- Balbi, Juan (2008). "Epistemological and theoretical foundations of constructivist cognitive therapies: post-rationalist developments". pp. 15–27. Archived from the original on 2011-07-08. https://web.archive.org/web/20110708205138/http://www.crossingdialogues.com/Ms-A08-01-6.pdf. Retrieved 2010-10-19.
- Raskin, Jonathan D. (Spring 2002). "Constructivism in psychology: personal construct psychology, radical constructivism, and social constructionism". Archived from the original on 2009-02-09. http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20090209035603/http://ac-journal.org/journal/vol5/iss3/special/raskin.pdf. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
- "Radical Constructivism". Archived from the original on 19 April 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180419043612/http://radicalconstructivism.com/. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
- Kitching, G. 2008. The Trouble with Theory: The Educational Costs of Postmodernism. Penn State University Press.
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