Social Constructivism and Philosophy
'Strong' social constructivism as a philosophical approach tends towards the suggestion that "the natural world has a small or non-existent role in the construction of scientific knowledge." . According to Boudry & Buekens Freudian psychoanalysis is a good example of this in action. As Freudian psychoanalysis is also regarded as epistemically fundamentally flawed - using its own inventions to support its arguments - this suggests that 'bona fide' science, which (by and large) is not flawed in the same way, is also not validly subject to social constructivism.
Interestingly, however, Boudry & Buekens do not claim that 'bona fide' science is completely immune from all socialisation and the (Kuhnian) claims of paradigmatic shifts, merely that the 'strong' social constructivist claim that ALL scientific knowledge is constructed ignores the reality of scientific success, and falls prey to the ancient Cretan, Epimenides' famous dictum, "All Cretans are liars." - including, of course, Epimenides.
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