What's atop the ivory tower?
Q: When was the last time I blogged?
A: The previous post says: 01 November 2009. That’s over a month ago.
Q: When was the last time I thought about my research?
A: I don’t remember.
Well, except for the past two days. After my meeting here in Hong Kong, I took TWO DAYS off just to read up on articles that I’ve accumulated but haven’t read. I went to cafes, bars–name it, I’ve been there–just to get myself up and about, and get me to read “stuff.” Read More »
I wrote Dr. Deana Kuhn maybe about two months ago, and she responded after a while, sending me four articles. I finally got to read one of them today: A chapter for the book Metacognition written in the year 2007 by a David Moshman. An interesting and provocative piece called “Epistemic development and the perils of Pluto.”
Needless to say, I enjoyed reading the chapter. Several reasons:
First, the author uses very relevant and familiar examples from astronomy (Pluto) and history (genocides) to argue his case about epistemology.
Secondly, he painstakingly defines epistemic cognition and development–and talks about what distinguishes the usual epistemological stage of a child vs. that of an adolescent and adult.
Finally, he gives new names to the terms that I’ve been encountering and using myself. Nothing like re-baptisms to give these concepts a fresh perspective. Hence, absolutist is objectivist, multiplicist/relativist is subjectivist, and evaluativist is rationalist. I kind of prefer these new terms as they are clearer and less controversial.
I’m grateful that Moshman has rekindled my interest. Certainly something worth going back to.
