• Journal of Korean Philosophical Society
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• v.129
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• pp.23-51
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• 2014

Christine M. Korsgaard believes that constructivism can respond to moral skepticism without depending upon moral realism. The purpose of this paper is to examine Korsgaard's kantian constructivism and her positions on moral realism. According to Korsgaard moral realism cannot answer normative questions in that it sees the function of moral concepts as describing the reality and so accepts the model of applied knowledge for action. In contrast Korsgaard insists that constructivism is better at justifying normativity since it regards moral concepts as representing the solutions to practical problems and so shows that moral principles are necessarily involved in the practical problems of agency. Korsgaard's constructivism has antirealistic elements such as pure proceduralism, the constitutive model to exclude ontological, metaphysical meanings, and the account of human beings as the sources of values. In spite of those antirealistic elements it is difficult to jump to a conclusion that Korsgaard's constructivism is antirealism. Korsgaard, in the early book, The Sources of Normativity, says that kantian constructivism has something to do with a form of realism, or procedural moral realism. And in the following books she argues that constructivism is compatible with realism although she pays attention to the practical implications of constructivism and then sets aside its ontological relevance. That is, Korsgaard does not want that her constructivism results in antirealism. Korsgaard's realism, however, is too weak to be called as realism. There is, also, a question why one would rather take a constructivist approach if one holds on to realism.

• Asia-pacific Journal of Multimedia Services Convergent with Art, Humanities, and Sociology
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• v.9 no.8
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• pp.783-790
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• 2019

Cognitive science attempts to explain human intelligence on the basis of success of artificial neural network, which is called connectionism. The neural network, e.g., deep learning, seemingly promises connectionism to go beyond what it is. But those(Fodor & Pylyshyn, Fodor, & McLaughlin) who advocate classical computationalism, or symbolism claim that connectionism must fail since it cannot represent the relation between human thoughts and human language. The neural network lacks systematicity, so any output of neural network is at best association or accidental combination of data plugged in input units. In this paper, I first introduce structure of artificial neural network and what connectionism amounts to. Second, I shed light on the problem of systematicity the classical computationalists pose for the connectionists. Third, I briefly introduce how those who advocate connectionism respond to the criticism while noticing Smolensky's theory of vector product. Finally, I examine the debate of computationalism and connectionism on systematicity, and show how the problem of systematicity contributes to the development of connectionism and computationalism both.

• Communications of Mathematical Education
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• v.21 no.2 s.30
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• pp.153-176
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• 2007

The purpose of this paper is to analyze teaching-learning program which can be applied to mathematically gifted students in primary school, Our program is based on constructivist views on teaching and learning of mathematics. Mainly, we study the algorithmic thinking of mathematically gifted students in primary school in connection with the network problems; Eulerian graph problem, the minimum connector problem, and the shortest path problem, The above 3-subjects are not familiar with primary school mathematics, so that we adapt teaching-learning model based on the social constructivism. To achieve the purpose of this study, seventeen students in primary school participated in the study, and video type(observation) and student's mathematical note were used for collecting data while the students studied. The results of our study were summarized as follows: First, network problems based on teaching-learning model of constructivist views help students learn the algorithmic thinking. Second, the teaching-learning model based on constructivist views gives an opportunity of various mathematical thinking experience. Finally, the teaching-learning model based on constructivist views needs more the ability of teacher's research and the time of teaching for students than an ordinary teaching-learning model.

• Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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• v.2 no.2 s.4
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• pp.25-54
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• 2002

Without much communication, large-scale surveys of public knowledge of, and attitudes to, science (quantitative PUS) and case-study analyses of the public's understandings of science in particular (constructivist PUS) have dominated in the public understanding of science (PUS) area. Not only methodological preference but also a strong antipathy against value-orientations that each approach presumed to have and support has been barriers for quantitative PUS and constructivist PUS to benefit each other. In order to overcome such barriers, this paper demonstrates that value orientations guiding quantitative PUS have been much more diverse than what constructivist PUS researchers might think, and that quantitative PUS has indeed yielded the results consistent with and complementary to constructivist PUS. Finally this paper proposes that (1)quantitative PUS should test propositions provided by constructivist PUS, so that it can contribute much to the construction of more generalizable PUS theories and policies, and (2)constructivist PUS uses the outcome of quantitative PUS to develop more complex case studies which consider heterogeneous publics, trends of public evaluations of science, and how public attitudes to science in the abstract and public attitudes to science in particular in a specific context have effect on each other.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• no.36
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• pp.227-252
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• 2008

This study investigated the relation between social worker's beliefs on the nature of scientific knowledge which has been classified objectivism and constructivism and social work practice. As an epistemological position, constructivism is based on a view of knowledge that differs from that of objectivism, which holds that knowledge exists "out there" as objective truth. The focus of this paper is a examination on epistemological beliefs of social worker and social work practice. This paper proves that social work's epistemological beliefs have an effect on the practice modes. This research indicates that social works have a higher constructivist veiws than objectivist veiws on the nature of scientific knowledge. And social worker who have a high level of objectivism show a positive determinative mode. It has suggested that the constructive theory offers useful epistemology to the social worker who should deal with the clients in uncertain situations. In conclusion, a social worker with a high level of constructivism use an approach that creats a more equitable relationship between social worker and client. This perspective will allows cliens to participate in the formulation of theories in practice.

• Korean Journal of Logic
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.461-484
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• 2014

This essay suggests a constructive interpretation of probabilities by diagnosing problems of the objective and the epistemic interpretations of probability. According to this interpretation, attributions of the mathematical structure of probability to a given system can be understood as positing constructive theoretical hypotheses showing the relationship among empirical data. The constructive interpretation is applied to comprehend probability claims in the explanation of temporal asymmetrical behaviour of our universe. A new approach interpreting probabilities as constructive theoretical terms enables us to circumvent shortcomings of both objective and subjective interpretation of probability, and appreciate why these interpretations nevertheless appear to be convincing in our case.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.205-230
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• 2014

New teaching and learning theory on various aspects about class is needed to implement education which reflects constructivism, ideally. For an ideal learner-centered mathematics class, tangible and intangible elements related to education(view of knowledge, view of leaner, teacher's role, evaluation, the form of class, learning, teaching material, etc.) should be integrated from a constructive perspective and especially, teaching material has to be premised on that learners have intellectual abilities to construct knowledge themselves, and reflect integrity of knowledge, diversity and others, and contain open attributes. In addition to this, teaching material should have characteristics different from those when objective epistemology applies, so there is a need to analyze whether teaching material has those characteristics. For this, this study compared and analyzed <1. Three-Digit Numbers> which belongs to the domain of numbers and operations out of the units of mathematics(3) textbook of the 2009 revised curriculum for the first and second grade that first introduced story-telling, and <3. Understanding of Place Values> for the second grade of constructive math class used in the U.S.

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.415-442
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• 2010

If the philosophy of the curriculum is changed when the curriculum is revised, discussion about knowledge viewpoints in the changed philosophy is needed. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze elementary mathematics textbooks(EMT) based on the perspective of constructivism knowledge as basic philosophy of the 7th curriculum and the 2007 revised curriculum and to present aim of textbooks development through the results. According to the results, the number and operation units of 1st and 2nd grades of EMT compiled according to the 7th curriculum and the 2007 revised curriculum didn't reflect the perspective of constructivism knowledge as the philosophy of the curriculum. From the analysis, EMT were not composed so as to agree the perspective of constructivism knowledge that emphasize concepts, conceptua1 principles, variety, integration.

• Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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• v.4 no.2 s.8
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• pp.67-101
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• 2004

Although the study of citation patterns is an important theme within the sociology of science, due to the fact that it is intimately related to the production, reproduction, and evaluation of knowledge, only sustained theoretical research outlining the differences of citation patterns between the hard and soft sciences has been conducted, and empirical studies nevertheless remain few and far between. The perspectives of institutionalism and constructivism have to attempted to explain different citation patterns between the hard and soft sciences as a contrast between 'what one says' and 'who one is'. Therefore, against this background this study examines the 'theoretical' controversy empirically by comparing the contrasting citation patterns of physics, as a representative of hard science, and sociology, as a representative of soft science. The results, in brief, are as follows: the citaton patterns in physics, as in sociology, vary according to the author's status within the hierarchical employment structure, i. e. whether s/he is a full-time lecturer or not, but diversity of citation patterns according to Ph. D. diploma area is unique to sociology. These results would suggest that the explanation of constructivism is more relevant in explaining variance according to the author's status in the employment hierarchy, but the approach of institutionalism is more appropriate to understanding variance due to Ph. D. diploma area. Furthermore, this implies the complex diversity of the citation patterns between the hard and soft sciences, pointing us to the more qualified conclusion that rather than having to choose between institutionalism and constructivism according to a mutually exclusive either/or logic, these two approaches can in fact be mutually complementary, and these approaches should also be applied piecemeal to different levels of phenomena. In conclusion, this comparative research enables us to assert the following two claims: firstly that physics, as a 'science in society', produces knowledge dependent on social context, and secondly that it also possesses a characteristic that transcends locality from the view of a sociology of knowledge.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.129-142
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• 2004

These days, constructivism has become a central theory in mathematics education. A essential concept in constructivism is 'construction' and the meaning of construction of mathematical knowledge is a core issue in mathematics educational field. In the basis of Dewey's epistemology, this article is trying to explicate the meaning of construction of mathematical knowledge. Dewey, Kant and Piaget coincide in construction of knowledge from the viewpoint of the interaction between mind and environment. However, unlike Dewey's concept, Kant and Piaget are still in the line of traditional realistic epistemology. Dewey's concept of construction logically implies teaching-learn learning principles. This can be named as a principle of genetic construction and a principle of progressive consciousness.