Teaching reasoning in a constructivist epistemology

Abstract

AbstractMy argument deals in four steps with three linked notions: (i) the mind’s capacity to judge due to (ii) norm-based reasoning which includes (iii) reasoning in terms of modality. The first step reviews a thought experiment about development in a normatively normal but causally abnormal society. This serves to identify the human capacity for judgement, norms and reasoning. Four examples with commentary are presented in the second step which serve to identify (i)–(iii) as distinctive phenomena. The third step deals with interpretation of such phenomena. The proposed interpretation is a developmental epistemology whose unit of analysis consists in acts of judgement inclusive of causal facts and normative facts bound by reasoning and modality. The final step sets out three educational implications covering education in a constructivist epistemology, reasoning pedagogy, and teaching for development. The causal conditions under which intellectual mastery is achieved merit attention in psychology and education, always provided co-attention is given to the normative conditions of the reconstitution of this mastery generative of novel advances.