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Critical Thinking and Constructivism: Mambo Dog Fish to the Banana Patch
Author(s) -
Boghossian Peter
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of philosophy of education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.501
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1467-9752
pISSN - 0309-8249
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9752.2011.00832.x
Subject(s) - constructivism (international relations) , critical thinking , presupposition , epistemology , constructivist teaching methods , argument (complex analysis) , sociology , critical systems thinking , social constructivism , parallel thinking , pedagogy , teaching method , philosophy , politics , political science , biochemistry , international relations , chemistry , law
Constructivist pedagogies cannot achieve their critical thinking ambitions. Constructivism, and constructivist epistemological presuppositions, actively thwarts the critical thinking process. Using W ittgenstein's private language argument, this paper argues that corrective mechanisms—the ability to correct a student's propositions and cognitions against the background of a shared, knowable world—are indispensible to critical thinking. This paper provides concrete examples of actual constructivist practice and shows how a particular constructivist classroom exercise can be modified to incorporate critical thinking elements as detailed by the A merican P hilosophical A ssociation. Finally, the paper states the significance of these arguments, particularly as they extend from the educational arena into the public and governmental domains.