| Abstract: | Israel Scheffler, one of the most important figures in the history of philosophy of education in the United States, has recently introduced an interesting idea in terms of the long-standing debate between constructivism and realism. Scheffler's idea has its roots in his debate with Nelson Goodman, his Harvard colleague, who defended thoroughgoing constructivism and pluralism (a fusion he termed "irrealism"). Scheffler describes his plurealism as a synthesis of Peircean "monistic realism" and Goodmanian "pluralist irrealism." This article elaborates the possible educational implications of all three of these positions: constructivism, realism, and plurealism. Scheffler's idea of plurealism is educationally rewarding since it preserves Goodmanian pluralism without slipping into his voluntarism or relativism. In educational terms, plurealism implies, first, the value of different ways to both see and describe the world and, second, the independent importance of different realms of science as well as other areas of human understanding. As a version of realism, it indicates that we can evaluate and improve our understanding of reality. |
