ABSTRACT

This chapter aims to articulate the proposal that philosophical inquiry can improve, deepen and advance our understanding of education in ways that differ from those of social and natural scientific research, because philosophy is concerned the educational but also with the ‘social’ and the ‘natural’ in their own right. It investigates some influential ideas around the question of whether different conceptual schemes carve up the world differently. The chapter discusses the term ‘constructivism’ is practically employed to cover the range of those isms that, with varying degrees but commonly, lack a substantial analysis of the nature of social reality because the term ‘constructivism’ is used most frequently in discussions of reality construction. Empiricism in philosophy is the idea that experience is ‘the ultimate source of all our concepts and knowledge’. John McDowell, who is regarded as a major figure in philosophy, applauds Richard Rorty for trying to extricate from foundationalist epistemology.