Mike,
in what sense do you see reductionist tendencies pull in opposite
directions in the two interdisciplines? Human development to be more
biologistic, education more culturalistic, linguisticistic? The
former more conservative, the latter often inclined towards
postmodernism and other arbitrarities? But is not educational
practice on the level, e.g. of school organization in chronological
cohorts, in the way it presupposes und attempts to impose norms of
development modeled after e.g. body growth, quite biologistic? And,
on the other hand, human development becoming increasingly
culturalistic, say e.g. in the open way old age has found its own
developmental potential? Maybe both are mixed bags in this respects.
Perhaps the more interesting question is to ask in what respect
reduction attempts can make sense at all. Nature-nurture opposition
appears still alive and reinforced in the genetic perspective. I keep
to the old metaphor that there is no area without having both length
and width. So reducing, i.e. to say this or that is essentially width
or is crucially length will only multiply the whole thing to zero.
The promised gain in certainty of knowledge or understanding is
probably mostly illusionary; the high price to be paid for this
illusion is the miss of the real process and to have no concepts and
methods to grasp the originally biotic structures transformed by
experience into individual and culturally coordinated structures
capable of dealing with novelty. We should be glad then, when
reductionist programs, i.e. either-or mentality, will eventually be
replaced by perspectives undivided.
And it would be most interesting to discuss how you and all those
with respective experience would organize and lead interdisciplines.
How people willing to go beyond their origin can be welcomed and
enriched in their new environments.
Alfred
>Seems reasonable to me, Alfred. I call what I think you are
>gesturing toward is what I refer to as "interdisciplines."
>Some believe that the study of human development qualifies
>as such on this campus, but do not believe the same of
>education (to pick two potential interdisciplines whose
>reductionist tendencies pull in opposite directions).
>mike
-- --------------------------------------------------------------------- Alfred Lang, Psychology, Univ. Bern, Switzerland --- alfred.lang@psy.unibe.ch Website: http://www.psy.unibe.ch/ukp/langpapers/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Sep 01 2000 - 01:00:48 PDT