ABSTRACT

First Published in 1995. In the past decade or two, the most important theoretical perspective to emerge in mathematics education has been that of constructivism. This burst onto the international scene at the controversial Eleventh International Conference on the Psychology of Mathematics Education in Montreal in the summer of 1987. No one there will forget von Glasersfeld's authoritative plenary presentation on radical con­structivism, and his replies to critics. Ironically, the conference, at which attacks on radical constructivism were perhaps intended to expose fatally its weaknesses, served as a platform from which the theory was launched to widespread international acceptance and approbation. Radical constructivism is a theory of knowing that provides a pragmatic approach to questions about reality, truth, language and human understanding. It breaks with the philosophical tradition and proposes a conception of knowledge that focuses on experiential fit rather than metaphysical truth. It claims to be a useful approach, not the revelation of a timeless world. The ten chapters of this book present different facets in an elegantly written and thoroughly argued account of this epistemological position, providing a profound analysis of its central concepts.

chapter 1|23 pages

Growing up Constructivist

Languages and Thoughtful People

chapter 2|29 pages

Unpopular Philosophical Ideas

A History in Quotations

chapter 3|23 pages

Piaget's Constructivist Theory of Knowing

chapter 4|13 pages

The Construction of Concepts 1

chapter 5|24 pages

Reflection and Abstraction 1

chapter 6|16 pages

Constructing Agents

The Self and Others 1

chapter 7|17 pages

On Language, Meaning, and Communication

chapter 8|14 pages

The Cybernetic Connection

chapter 9|16 pages

Units, Plurality and Number 1