Tuesday, January 29, 2008

"We have no one but ourselves to thank for the world in which we appear to be living."

This quote is a part of a sentence from Ernst Von Glaserfeld's "Priliminary Remarks" for An Introduction to Radical Constructivism. He continues on to describe this notion as "precisely what constructivism intends to say." Although I may not interpret it in the same respect as Glaserfeld, I find validity in this statement.
I believe that we, as humans, are capable of deciding what type of world in which we exist. I don't necessarily mean that we are able to decide how we construct our realities, but instead what kind of reality we construct. I feel that we hold the power to control the world we live in as either a positive or negative place. Even though there are elements to life that humans are incapable of controlling, I find it important to utilize the power one has over their own attitute to project it into their surroundings. There are pleasant and unfavorable aspects to every experience & object. Depending on which aspects one directs their focus, one can create the nature of their world.

1 comment:

David K. Braden-Johnson said...

I think you're right.

Yet, "ourselves" is an important word in von G's quote; without it, I don't think he can make his case. And the trouble is, he may not theoretically be able to count on those others who are but "constructions" of each individual subject.