The book is by Paul Boghossian, a professor of philosophy at New York University, and is a critique and refutation of the blatant lunacy and obscurantism of postmodernism (social construction of reality and its concomitant denial of objective reality). I had hoped this dragon would have been slain by Sokal and the invaluable book Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and Its Quarrels With Science by biologist Paul R. Gross and mathematician Norman Levitt. But this nonsense on stilts like educational constructivism is a Hydra-headed monster and slaying it is a Herculean task.
Social constructivism and educational constructivism drink from the same well but I suspect Boghossian's book focuses more on the former.
I once wrote a piece specifically on educational constructivism I called Arrested development in which I tried to find an empirical basis for this creed but couldn't find it.
I was hoping to provoke defenders of the creed with limited success. I would seriously like to hear from defenders because this creed truly mystifies me.
Social constructivism and educational constructivism drink from the same well but I suspect Boghossian's book focuses more on the former.
I once wrote a piece specifically on educational constructivism I called Arrested development http://instructivist.blogspot.com/2005/10/arrested-development.html in which I tried to find an empirical basis for this creed but couldn't find it.
I was hoping to provoke defenders of the creed with limited success. I would seriously like to hear from defenders because this creed truly mystifies me.
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For some reason, linking didn't work in this post. I am proud of my a href= skill and get mad when it is for nought.
On a housekeeping note, is there some way to delete posts without leaving a trace, i.e. permanently. My blogger lets me do it. Is it a question of turning on that feature?
Also, can the number of recent comments displayed be increased? Techies?
Who is the author? It's hard to read on the picture.
ReplyDeleteIs this the book you were reading on stickiness? I might need to buy that one too.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe book is by Paul Boghossian, a professor of philosophy at New York University, and is a critique and refutation of the blatant lunacy and obscurantism of postmodernism (social construction of reality and its concomitant denial of objective reality). I had hoped this dragon would have been slain by Sokal and the invaluable book Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and Its Quarrels With Science by biologist Paul R. Gross and mathematician Norman Levitt. But this nonsense on stilts like educational constructivism is a Hydra-headed monster and slaying it is a Herculean task.
ReplyDeleteBoghossian had written earlier on Sokal's hoax. See What the Sokal Hoax Ought to Teach Us -- The pernicious consequences and internal contradictions of "postmodernist" relativism
The Stickiness book is a bestseller I think.
ReplyDeleteI'll get it posted.
It's quite valuable.
Social constructivism and educational constructivism drink from the same well but I suspect Boghossian's book focuses more on the former.
ReplyDeleteI once wrote a piece specifically on educational constructivism I called Arrested development in which I tried to find an empirical basis for this creed but couldn't find it.
I was hoping to provoke defenders of the creed with limited success. I would seriously like to hear from defenders because this creed truly mystifies me.
Social constructivism and educational constructivism drink from the same well but I suspect Boghossian's book focuses more on the former.
ReplyDeleteI once wrote a piece specifically on educational constructivism I called Arrested development http://instructivist.blogspot.com/2005/10/arrested-development.html in which I tried to find an empirical basis for this creed but couldn't find it.
I was hoping to provoke defenders of the creed with limited success. I would seriously like to hear from defenders because this creed truly mystifies me.
--------
For some reason, linking didn't work in this post. I am proud of my a href= skill and get mad when it is for nought.
On a housekeeping note, is there some way to delete posts without leaving a trace, i.e. permanently. My blogger lets me do it. Is it a question of turning on that feature?
Also, can the number of recent comments displayed be increased? Techies?