Taking a pragmatic perspective on theories of tools or related concepts

Angel M.Y. Lin (mylin who-is-at oise.on.ca)
Tue, 10 Oct 1995 02:50:25 -0400 (EDT)

I've been fascinated by the many discussions on tools or related
issues... it seems that we're trying to build some theories, or models of
what (and how) on earth humans do what they do in all their social, cultural
and historical complexities... and this is taken to be part of
the enterprise of what socio-cultural researchers are supposed to be doing.

I do not have any objections to theory-building, which is needed in any
academic discipline, and any useful applications must have come from some
theory... But I just feel that theory-building efforts might need to be
grounded, or mutually constituted by the consideration of when is
theory A useful, when is theory b useful, etc.; so, I would advocate taking
a pragmatic perspective: i.e., there can (and should) be multiple theories:
some may have tools as the central notion, some with some other concepts
... just that there's the need to see why we're doing all this
theory-building
work... and how this work can be useful in different practical situations
(e.g., in educational settings). I'm proposing this not because I'm
overly occupied with pragmatic concerns (to be honest I actually am... :-)
but I do think there's the danger of going into an endless theoretical
game of prostulating concepts, constructs, layers and layers of
theoretical structures (which are all very fine and beautiful and
needed...) without also realizing the importance of having our theories
grounded in practical situations--to be thoroughly socio-cultural in
spirit, our theory-building work and discourses seem to be part of a
larger socio-economic system... So, just what is it that we're doing?

Angel
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Angel M.Y. Lin
Doctoral Candidate
Modern Language Centre
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
252 Bloor St. W., Toronto, ON M5S 1V6, Canada
E-Mail: MYLIN who-is-at OISE.ON.CA
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Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgment Seat;
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When ... we stand face to face in the cyber space? ...
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