Oversocialised epistemology: A critical appraisal of constructivism

The article looks at some strengths and weaknesses of attempts at socialisi ng the concepts of knowledge and epistemology. Roughly speaking, such socia lising is the result of considering these concepts from the sociological po int of view. Four consequences of doing so are pointed out. This is followe d by a discussion of a number of flaws identified in much of the constructi vist literature on the issue. Constructivists have doubtless played an impo rtant role in demystifying the notions of knowledge and epistemology. Yet a t times they have gone too far by drawing conclusions from their analyses w hich these analyses are incapable of supporting. At the end of the article, an alternative avoiding the difficulties posed by such conclusions is brie fly sketched.