THEORY CONSTRUCTIONS AND MODEL-BUILDING SKILLS

The process of understanding our world and making sense of reality is central to our waking lives. Accordingly, let us be more specific about what we mean by reality and understanding. Much philosophical thought has been devoted to the question of the nature of reality, and there is controversy among scientists about whether a single objective reality could ever be shown to exist. According to the traditional perspective, termed realism, reality exists independent of any human presence. There is an external world composed of objects that follow myriad natural facts and laws. It is up to us to discover these facts and laws. Using this perspective, science has evolved and prospered as an approach for gaining knowledge that mirrors the presumed actualities of the real world.In contrast to realism, the social constructionist perspective holds that reality is a construction of the human mind; that this construction is tied to a particular time and social context; and that what is considered reality changes as the social context changes. In its most extreme form, constructionism maintains that there is no reality and there are no facts until these are conceptualized and shared by some number of people. A more moderate position holds that, though there is an external reality independent of humankind, we can never know its units and true laws or even if it has units and true laws.