QUESTION:

 

Dear professor Von Glasersfeld,

 

I was not trying to argue against constructivism, I was trying to

think from its point of view, probably not very well.

 

The idea I wrote in my last letter was that the convergence of a

theory towards truth may be defined inside the domain of our

experience without any reference to an external reality. In others

words, I was trying to redefine approximation to truth from a

constructivist way of thinking using the mathematical (not the

common) concept of limit as a metaphor.

 

Anyway, this was just an idea to introduce my question. I am not

sure you have answered it, I'll try again.

 

Is it viable, from the perspective of radical constructivism, the

project of Science to construct a unified model of the world, or

even the hope of particular sciences to build unified models of its

objects of knowledge?

 

Nowadays Physics is a unified science, but Psychology is a

fragmented science, for example, psychoanalysis and behaviourism are

radically incompatible. Do you think Psychology will converge in the

future towards a unified and coherent science, as any realist should be

sure of, or do you think it is possible (probable, sure) to be fragmented

forever?

 

Best regards

 

Pedro P. Rivas

Spain

 

 

ANSWER:

Dear Mr. Rivas,

 

The notion of "approximation to truth", where truth means "agreement with

reality", is not compatible with constructiivism.

 

I am not sure what you mean by "Physics is a unified

science". Physicists today use explanatory models that are quite

incompatible with one another, e.g. wave- and particle theories of

light, Newtonian and Einsteinian models of the galaxy, etc.

 

As for psychology, most of what was done under the behaviorist label

should not be called psychology because it concerned observable behavior

and programmatically disregarded the mind.

 

There is no reason why psychologists should not use different and

mutually incompatible models if they find them useful for their purposes.

 

I think that managing with a single theoretical model may be a

temporary state in any science, because as experience expands, the

model is likely to crack.

 

I sometimes imagine that Leonardo da Vinci is sitting beside me as I am

driving my car and i am trying to talk to him - it makes me realize that

there is extremely little that he would experience the way I do;

explanations are therefore very difficult.

Best wishes,

Ernst von Glasersfeld
 

 

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