scholarly journals Social constructivism in mathematics? The promise and shortcomings of Julian Cole’s institutional account

Synthese ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenni Rytilä
Keyword(s):  
Social Constructivism ◽  
Mathematical Practice ◽  
Social Constructs ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
The Social ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
Core Idea ◽  
Social Entities ◽  
In Virtue Of ◽  
Mathematical Reality

AbstractThe core idea of social constructivism in mathematics is that mathematical entities are social constructs that exist in virtue of social practices, similar to more familiar social entities like institutions and money. Julian C. Cole has presented an institutional version of social constructivism about mathematics based on John Searle’s theory of the construction of the social reality. In this paper, I consider what merits social constructivism has and examine how well Cole’s institutional account meets the challenge of accounting for the characteristic features of mathematics, especially objectivity and applicability. I propose that in general social constructivism shows promise as an ontology of mathematics, because the view can agree with mathematical practice and it offers a way of understanding how mathematical entities can be real without conflicting with a scientific picture of reality. However, I argue that Cole’s specific theory does not provide an adequate social constructivist account of mathematics. His institutional account fails to sufficiently explain the objectivity and applicability of mathematics, because the explanations are weakened and limited by the three-level theoretical model underlying Cole’s account of the construction of mathematical reality and by the use of the Searlean institutional framework. The shortcomings of Cole’s theory give reason to suspect that the Searlean framework is not an optimal way to defend the view that mathematical reality is socially constructed.

SITUATING FEMINIST EPISTEMOLOGY

Episteme ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalie Alana Ashton ◽  
Robin McKenna
Keyword(s):  
Social Constructivism ◽  
Standpoint Theory ◽  
Feminist Epistemology ◽  
Feminist Standpoint Theory ◽  
Feminist Standpoint ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
The Social ◽  
Core Idea ◽  
Feminist Epistemologies

ABSTRACTFeminist epistemologies hold that differences in the social locations of inquirers make for epistemic differences, for instance, in the sorts of things that inquirers are justified in believing. In this paper we situate this core idea in feminist epistemologies with respect to debates about social constructivism. We address three questions. First, are feminist epistemologies committed to a form of social constructivism about knowledge? Second, to what extent are they incompatible with traditional epistemological thinking? Third, do the answers to these questions raise serious problems for feminist epistemologies? We argue that some versions of two of the main strands in feminist epistemology – feminist standpoint theory and feminist empiricism – are committed to a form of social constructivism, which requires certain departures from traditional epistemological thinking. But we argue that these departures are less problematic than one might think. Thus, (some) feminist epistemologies provide a plausible way of understanding how (some) knowledge might be socially constructed.

Anti-Semitism, Unhappy Consciousness and the Social Construction of the Palestinian Nakba

2012 ◽  
Vol 49 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 397-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yakub Halabi
Keyword(s):  
Social Constructivism ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
Jewish State ◽  
Anti Semitism ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Palestinian Refugee ◽  
Refugee Problem ◽  
State Of Israel

The history of Zionism is composed of two narratives: One is the history of anti-Semitism that begot Zionism, and the other is the history of the Zionist–Palestinian conflict that begot the Palestinian refugee problem (the Nakba). So far, these two narratives have been investigated in parallel and, thus, they were kept artificially disconnected from each other. The history of the Palestinian catastrophe has been examined mainly in the light of the 1947–1949 events that culminated in the 1948 War and the birth of the Nakba. This narrative ignores the identity of the Zionists, especially the link between anti-Semitism and the Nakba. Many Israeli scholars claim that the territorial demands of the two groups had ushered in the 1948 War, the outcome of which was determined by the balance of power between the Zionist forces and the Arabs. Based on theories of social constructivism, this essay claims, however, that the Nakba and the establishment of the state of Israel are a socially constructed enterprise that reflected the shared ideas, the collective unhappy consciousness and the identity of Zionists and their protracted history in Europe. Anti-Semitism shaped the world views of Zionists and their desire to establish a Jewish state on the total area of mandatory Palestine—the area west of the Jordan River under British administration—in which the Jews aspired to live alone with themselves. Finally, in order to uproot the ‘diaspora mentality’ from the Jewish newcomers to Palestine and to construct a Jewish nationality, the Zionists had excluded the Palestinians from the Hebrew labour market.

What's the Fuss about Social Constructivism?

Episteme ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-85
Author(s):  
John Dupré
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Social Constructivism ◽  
Social Enterprise ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Many ◽  
Social Construction Of Science

The topic of this paper is social constructivist doctrines about the nature of scientific knowledge. I don't propose to review all the many accounts that have either claimed this designation or had it ascribed to them. Rather I shall try to consider in a very general way what sense should be made of the underlying idea, and then illustrate some of the central points with two central examples from biology. The first thing to say is that, on the face of it, some doctrine of the social construction of science must self-evidently be true. The notion of science as progressing through the efforts of solitary geniuses may have had some plausibility in the seventeenth century, but it has none today. Science is a massively cooperative, social, enterprise. And surely it is constructed. Scientific knowledge doesn't grow on trees; it is produced through hard work by human agents. Putting these two banal points together we conclude that science is socially constructed.

scholarly journals Foundations of the Socio-Physical Model of Activities (SOMA) for Autonomous Robotic Agents1

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Beßler ◽  
Robert Porzel ◽  
Mihai Pomarlan ◽  
Abhijit Vyas ◽  
Sebastian Höffner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Physical Model ◽  
Search Space ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Levels Of Abstraction ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Abstract Knowledge ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Entities

In this paper, we present foundations of the Socio-physical Model of Activities (SOMA). SOMA represents both the physical as well as the social context of everyday activities. Such tasks seem to be trivial for humans, however, they pose severe problems for artificial agents. For starters, a natural language command requesting something will leave many pieces of information necessary for performing the task unspecified. Humans can solve such problems fast as we reduce the search space by recourse to prior knowledge such as a connected collection of plans that describe how certain goals can be achieved at various levels of abstraction. Rather than enumerating fine-grained physical contexts SOMA sets out to include socially constructed knowledge about the functions of actions to achieve a variety of goals or the roles objects can play in a given situation. As the human cognition system is capable of generalizing experiences into abstract knowledge pieces applicable to novel situations, we argue that both physical and social context need be modeled to tackle these challenges in a general manner. The central contribution of this work, therefore, lies in a comprehensive model connecting physical and social entities, that enables flexibility of executions by the robotic agents via symbolic reasoning with the model. This is, by and large, facilitated by the link between the physical and social context in SOMA where relationships are established between occurrences and generalizations of them, which has been demonstrated in several use cases in the domain of everyday activites that validate SOMA.

The New Frontier

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marilyn Fernandez
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Equal Opportunity ◽  
Disadvantaged Groups ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
The Social ◽  
New Frontier ◽  
Equal Opportunity Employer

Does the burgeoning Indian Information Technology (IT) sector represent a deviation from the historical arc of caste inequality or has it become yet another site of discrimination? Those who claim that the sector is caste-free believe that IT is an equal opportunity employer, and that the small Dalit footprint is due to the want of merit. But they fail to consider how caste inequality sneaks in by being layered on socially constructed ‘pure merit’, which favours upper castes and other privileged segments, but handicaps Dalits and other disadvantaged groups. In this book, Fernandez describes how the practice of pure and holistic merit are deeply embedded in the social, cultural, and economic privileges of the dominant castes and classes, and how caste filtering has led to the reproduction of caste hierarchies and consequently the small Dalit footprint in Indian IT.

Family Participation in Challenger Baseball: Critical Theory Perspectives

1999 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 372-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lupe Castañ ◽  
Claudine Sherrill
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Emotional Support ◽  
Equal Opportunity ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Physical Disabilities ◽  
Head Coach ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
The Social ◽  
Field Notes

The purpose was to analyze the social construction of Challenger baseball opportunities in a selected community. Participants were 10 boys and 6 girls with mental and/or physical disabilities (ages 7 to 16 years, M = 11.31), their families, and the head coach. Data were collected through interviews in the homes with all family members, participant observation at practices and games, and field notes. The research design was qualitative, and critical theory guided interpretation. Analytical induction revealed five outcomes that were particularly meaningful as families and coach socially constructed Challenger baseball: (a) fun and enjoyment, (b) positive affect related to equal opportunity and feelings of “normalcy,” (c) social networking/emotional support for families, (d) baseball knowledge and skills, and (e) social interactions with peers.

Conditioning Constructs: A Psychological Theory of International Negotiated Cooperation

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 319-356
Author(s):  
Rachel Xian
Keyword(s):  
Social Constructivism ◽  
Cooperative Behavior ◽  
Psychological Theory ◽  
International Negotiation ◽  
Intermittent Reinforcement ◽  
Negotiated Agreements ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Tit For Tat ◽  
Behavioral Conditioning ◽  
Durable Peace

Abstract Political psychology and social constructivism exist in an “ideational alliance” against realism; however, both have overlooked behavioral conditioning, the basis of animal learning. Through six stages situated in international negotiation behaviors, the theory of Conditioning Constructs shows how behavioral conditioning can take parties from specific to diffuse reciprocity, rationalist to constructivist cooperation, and crisis to durable peace. In stages 1, 2 and 3, parties use negotiated agreements to exit prisoner’s dilemmas, continuously reinforce cooperation during agreement implementation, and satiate to rewards as initial implementation finalizes. In stages 4, 5 and 6, parties receive fresh rewards with new negotiations, undergo intermittent reinforcement with periodic agreements thereafter, and finally attribute cooperative behavior to actor constructs. Conditioning Constructs demonstrates that agency is possible in socially constructed structures through willful participation in conditioning through negotiation; and that, while Anatol Rapoport’s tit-for-tat strategy is suited to initial cooperation, intermittent reinforcement better preserves late-stage cooperation.

The Moderation Role of Being Valued by Teachers Over the Association Between School Children Motivation and Need for Competition

SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 215824402110441
Author(s):  
Cristina Maria Bostan ◽  
Tudor Stanciu ◽  
Răzvan-Lucian Andronic
Keyword(s):  
School Children ◽  
Social Constructivism ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Economic Status ◽  
Motivation For Learning ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Family

Concordant with classical theoretical guidelines (i.e., social facilitation, social constructivism theory, and the Pygmalion effect) we tested the need for competition and perception of being valued by teachers to be better motivated for learning in school. We extend knowledge by testing these associations mediated by the social economic status given by the well-being of the family (i.e., controlling for gender and socio-economic status). A total of 214 Romanian students (45.3% boys) with ages between 13 and 17 years were administered the PEER questionnaire (i.e., perception of being valued by teachers, school-children motivation, and the need for competition). Results show a positive relation between the need for competition and motivation for learning. We also found positive relations between the perception of being valued by the teacher and motivation for learning and the need for competition. We conclude that motivation is higher when the need for competition is higher and the perception of being valued by teachers is higher.

scholarly journals Rethinking Financial Reporting: Reinstating the Social License of Limited Liability

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Haslam
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Review Paper ◽  
Investment Decision ◽  
Limited Liability ◽  
Reporting Standards ◽  
Financial Reporting Standards ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Investment Decision Making ◽  
Social License ◽  
The Social

AbstractShyam Sunder’s monograph ‘Rethinking Financial Reporting: Standards, Norms and Institutions’ explores the extent to which it is possible to deliver ‘better financial reporting’ so as to support investment decision making and valuation. In this review paper it is argued that a more fundamental and radical challenge is required in a world where financial reporting is politically and socially constructed. The institutions governing financial reporting have pursued a project that has been complicit in undermining the social license granted by limited liability. The priority is to explore how financial reporting might contribute to securing the social license granted by limited liability.

Service innovation as a social construction: The role of boundary objects

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 259-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Mele ◽  
Roberta Sebastiani ◽  
Daniela Corsaro
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Service Innovation ◽  
Innovation Process ◽  
Boundary Objects ◽  
Resource Integration ◽  
Shared Meanings ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
The Social ◽  
Outcome Perspective

This article advances a conceptualization of service innovation as socially constructed through resource integration and sensemaking. By developing this view, the current study goes beyond an outcome perspective, to include the collective nature of service innovation and the role of the social context in affecting the service innovation process. Actors enact and perform service innovation through two approaches, one that is more concerted and another that emerges in some way. Each approach is characterized by distinct resource integration processes, in which the boundary objects (artifacts, discourses, and places) play specific roles. They act as bridge-makers that connect actors, thereby fostering resource integration and shared meanings.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document