Constructivism as relativism? It all depends
Jonathan D. Raskin
Dept. of Psychology, JFT, State University of New York at New Paltz, NY
(USA)
Abstract
Many scholars criticize constructivism for culminating in a nihilistic
relativism. This paper ad-dresses the problem of relativism within constructivist
theory and practice. It examines the con-ception of constructivism as relativism
by looking to personal construct psychology, social con-structionism, radical
constructivism, cultural constructivism, and critics of constructivist
and re-lated approaches. A distinction is made between “within system”
and “between system” relativ-ism. The former refers to relativism within
a construct system or discourse, the latter to between construct systems
or discourses. Distinguishing within from between relativism allows for
distin-guishing “varieties of relativism”, some more in keeping with constructivist
theorizing than others. Hopefully, this leads to finer discriminations
about the advantages and disadvantages of various relativisms. The implications
of „within“ and „between“ systems relativism for constructivist eth-ics
and action are contemplated.
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