Abstract
Constructivism (organicism, idealism) is diametrically opposed to objectivism (mechanism, empiricism, positivism, realism, rationalism, determinism). Their epistemological stances are compared in Neimeyer (1993, 1995; Neimeyer & Feixas, 1990). Constructivism argues that reality is actively construed as meaning (ordered, invented, constituted, created; Held, 1990) in the knowledge-generating organs of the observer, and so does not exist in one particular fashion but is multiple (also Feixas, 1990b; Keating, 1991; Real, 1990). The construals are generated actively in that they are constantly sought, self-organized, and revised and are proactive and anticipatory. Meaning of the experienced world is coconstituted or negotiated in self-world interaction, and so is adaptive, contextual, and historic. It is not inherent in the external world nor the internal state but is the product of the conjoint interaction and relation of the two (Buckley, 1967; in Duncan, Parks, & Rusk, 1990). Thus, reality is a product of mind.
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© 1997 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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Young, G. (1997). Epistemology. In: Adult Development, Therapy, and Culture. The Springer Series in Adult Development and Aging. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9015-3_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9015-3_12
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