Constructivism

  • Jean Piaget, 1967
  • scientific knowledge is constructed by scientific community, and consists of mental constructs that try to explain experiences and measurements
  • in this idea world is independent of human minds (so not solipsism), but knowledge of that world is a human / social construct
  • it's opposed to objectivism which states that knowledge is independent of the learner

It is believed by constructivists that representations of physical and biological reality, including race, sexuality, and gender, as well as tables, chairs and atoms are socially constructed. Marx was among the first to suggest such an ambitious expansion of the power of ideas to inform the material realities of people's lives

— https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructivist_epistemology

Genetic Epistemology
Learning
Understanding Through Building
  • of course there's a Cybernetics lens on this, where acting generates knowing, and knowing, in turn, generates acting:

    A common preconception is that generally, understanding should precede acting and that theory is superior to practice (which depends on and is justified by theory), with post-rationalisation usually regarded as a shortcoming. In the context of radical constructivism, this preconception seems shortsighted: If acting generates understanding, and understanding, in turn, generates acting, the relationship of acting and doing can be described more appropriately as cyclical.

    — Christiane M. Herr - Design Cybernetics: Constructing Cybernetic Thinking, Design, and Education