I think it is really imporant to avoid thinking that anyone is talking
of either-or alternatives when using metaphors like empty desks or
coming "lightly equipped. In its dichtomous form a decade ago that
was cognitivism versus gibsonianism in one prominent version. The toolikt
(toolkit) metaphor seems useful to me in this regard. You have different
kinds of tools, but without experience and the possibility of an
appropriate contexts, they are naught.
mike