That was a very good statement of the constructivist perspective, with
particular attention to the role of language. It is consistent with several
constructivist approaches, in several disciplines. For example, much of the
postmodern literature following Derrida and Foucoult develops the idea that
we know the world only through "discourses" which occur in particular
social contexts. We must become reflective about those contexts in order to
understand what we are doing with/within those discourses. Maturana and
Varela appear to make a good statement of the constructivist perspective,
but they didn't invent it, and aren't unique in giving this role to
language. I'm not so familiar with their works, but Tim's discussion helps
to place it within the range of possible explanatory approaches. Thanks for
the elaboration,
Bob
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