Part 1. Introduction Jim DeLeo

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Part 1.IntroductionJim DeLeo
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In a nutshell

• This book is about constructivism a philosophy
  that says we dont discover reality, but rather
  we invent it.
• We can not know what the real world is we can
  only know what the real world is not.
• Noncontingent reward experiments - a big theme
  here.
• Constructivism is incompatible with traditional
  thinking which says reality exists and we can
  discover it.
• Constructivism says some of our ideas about
  reality match reality better than others.
• Many keys can unlock the same lock without
• knowing the lock.
• How such individual realities are constructed is
  also discussed in this book.

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Noncontingent Reward Experiments

• No connection between subjects performance and
  the response of the experimenter.
• Medical student experiment.
• Random number pairs - do they fit?
• Some subjects are convinced there is an order
  that the experimenter is not aware of.
• The subject has invented a reality that he
  assumes he has discovered.

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diseased
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healthy
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Noncontingent Reward Experiments

• No connection between subjects performance and
  the response of the experimenter.
• Medical student experiment.
• Random number pairs - do they fit?
• Some subjects are convinced there is an order
  that the experimenter is not aware of.
• The subject has invented a reality that he
  assumes he has discovered.

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We can not know what the real world is we can
only know what the real world is not.
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Best
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(No Transcript)
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Failure shows the true passage was not discovered.
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Success does not show the real (correct/true/best)
passage was discovered.
Failure shows the true passage was not discovered.
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When I first saw this thing I thought it was a
cartoon map of Jims colon.
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We can not know what the real world is we can
only know what the real world is not.
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Part 1.

• 1. Introduction to Radical Constructivism
• Written by Ernst von Glasersfeld
• Reviewed by Jerry McLaughlin
• All we can ever know about the real world is
  what it is not.
• The above idea permeates the book.
• 2. On Constructing a Reality"
• Written by Heinz von Foerster
• Reviewed by Carl Leonard
• The environment as we perceive it is an
  invention based on
• neurophysiological mechanisms and the
  ethical and aesthetic
• implications of these constructs.
• This sounds like solipsism but we will see that
  it is not.