FOM: A different (?) type of constructivism

[Peter Schuster]

Reply to Todd Wilson Mon, 10 Jul 2000 15:14:40 -0700 (PDT)

Putative inconsistencies similar to those detected by Todd Wilson 
(in his reply to Jan Mycielski's foregoing posting on a rational philosophy 
of mathematics) have also been taken into account by the (mainly Austro-American) 
group of epistemological constructivists (Heinz von Foerster, Ernst von Glasersfeld,Paul Watzlawick) who partially traces itself back to Jean Piaget. 
As far as I remember, these people defend their subjectivist view by saying, 
roughly, that another mathematician is just another "thought-experiment", 
another model which provides  additional "ontological dimension" to one's 
own model (quotes from Mycielski's posting) provided that it is "viable" 
(in those people's terms), that is, it works in the sense that one does 
get stuck in the maze when following such a model. 

Peter Schuster.