What if there were no objective facts, no objective truth, only our belief in them? What if our consciousness itself is an unconscious invention, constructed out of logic and language? In this thought-provoking volume, Lynn Segal describes how the ideas of Heinz von Foerster compel us to explore the question "Do we discover the world or do we invent it?". He suggests that we must first know how we think before we can claim knowledge of the world. While Constructivism may seem relevant only to those in the cognitive sciences, it is, in fact, highly relevant to everyone. Paradoxically, grasping the limits of our own understanding can free us to live more creative and meaningful personal and professional lives.
SOME PRAISE FOR THE PREVIOUS EDITION:
"Segal...amicably succeed(s) in making rather profound insights seductively easy to read and in maintaining von Foerster’s oratory flair...”
–JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION
"(a) richly provocative book...”
–JOURNAL OF MARITAL AND FAMILY THERAPY
From the reviews of the second edition:
"Segal, a psychotherapist, initiated this work as a transcription of von Foerster’s lecture material; but it evolved instead into interpretation of von Foerster’s ideas in accessible language. ... The appendix contains an interview with von Foerster himself. This second edition is essentially a reissue of the first ... but it incorporates corrections and clarifications that von Foerster added to the German edition ... ." (Reference & Research Book News, November, 2001)
