An Explanation of ‘Why Constructivism has Brought Epistemological Issues to the Fore in the Discussion of Learning’

Abstract

There are numbers of studies from well-known and representative constructivist authors such as Piaget, Vygotsky, Ernst von Glasersfeld, and many other constructivists from diff erent versions. They point out countless disciplines and principles about constructivism including cognitive, social, individual, public discipline, and many other aspects, investigating the origin of construction and the implication of constructivism in many areas such as education, philosophy, and psychology. Among them, many signifi cant constructivist principles and problems with high attention related to epistemology and philosophy of science are discussed in Phillips article. According to Phillips (1995), there is an extremely complicated paradigm called constructivism with various forms based on diff erent theories such as sociology, psychology, philosophy, and pedagogy, springing up many epistemological issues related to human’s mind and activity. In his article, The good, the Bad, and the Ugly: The many faces of constructivism, Phillips noted the inappropriate indications in the variety of constructivism that exists so far. Phillips complicates matters further by critically discussing constructivism from the perspective of epistemological and philosophy science critically. Considering the matters from three axes related to many educational issues including learning, he identifi ed the ugly part is from ideological aspects of constructivism, while in terms of the opposite side, good, he emphasized that the active participation from learners should be placed necessarily in constructivist theories especially in the educational area. Regarding this, I would like to investigate the discussion critically put forward by Phillips in details related to the constructivism with epistemological issues in learning based on the literature.