Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T04:33:56.942Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Exchanging humpty dumpties is not a solution: Why a representational view of knowledge must be replaced with an action-based approach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 November 2021

Jeremy I. M. Carpendale
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BCV5A 1S6, [email protected]; https://www.sfu.ca/psychology/about/people/profiles/jcarpend.html
Charlie Lewis
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, Lancaster University, LancasterLA1 4YW, UK. [email protected]; https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/people-profiles/charlie-lewis

Abstract

In arguing for knowledge representation before belief, Phillips et al. presuppose a representational theory of knowledge, a view that has been extensively criticized. As an alternative, we propose an action-based approach to knowledge, conceptualized in terms of skill. We outline the implications of this approach for children's developing social understanding, beginning with sensorimotor interaction and extending to the verbal level.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bibok, M. B., Carpendale, J. I. M., & Lewis, C. (2008). Social knowledge as social skill: An action based view of social understanding. In Müller, U., Carpendale, J. I. M., Budwig, N. & Sokol, B. (Eds.), Social life and social knowledge: Toward a process account of development (pp. 145169). Taylor Francis.Google Scholar
Bickhard, M. (2009). The interactivist model. Synthese, 166, 547591. doi:10.1007/s11229-008-9375-x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Canfield, J. V. (2007). Becoming human: The development of language, self, and self-consciousness. Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carpendale, J. I. M. (2018). Communication as the coordination of activity: The implications of philosophical preconceptions for theories of the development of communication. In Dick, A. S. & Müller, U. (Eds.), Advancing developmental science: Philosophy, theory, and method (pp. 145156). Routledge, Taylor & Francis.Google Scholar
Carpendale, J. I. M., Atwood, S., & Kettner, V., (2013a). Meaning and mind from the perspective of dualist versus relational worldviews: Implications for the development of pointing gestures. Human Development, 56, 381400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carpendale, J. I. M., Hammond, S. I., & Atwood, S. (2013b). A relational developmental systems approach to moral development. In Lerner, R. M. & Benson, J. B. (Eds.), Embodiment and epigenesis: Theoretical and methodological issues in understanding the role of biology within the relational developmental system (Vol. 1, pp. 105133). Advances in child development and behavior, vol. 45. Academic Press.Google Scholar
Carpendale, J. I. M., & Lewis, C. (2004). Constructing an understanding of mind: The development of children's social understanding within social interaction. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 27, 7996.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carpendale, J. I. M., & Lewis, C. (2006). How children develop social understanding. Blackwell Publishers.Google Scholar
Carpendale, J. I. M., & Lewis, C. (2015). The development of social understanding. In Liben, L. & Müller, U. (Eds.), Vol. 2: Cognitive processes, R. Lerner (editor-in-chief), 7th Edition of the Handbook of child psychology and developmental science (pp. 381–424). Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Carpendale, J. I. M., & Lewis, C. (2021). What makes us human? How minds are constructed in relationships. Routledge.Google Scholar
Chapman, M. (1999). Constructivism and the problem of reality. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 20(1), 3143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dewey, J. (1960). On experience, nature, and freedom. The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc.Google Scholar
Mead, G. H. (1934). Mind, self and society. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1970). Genetic epistemology. Norton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piaget, J. (1972). Psychology and epistemology: Towards a theory of knowledge. Viking Compass Book.Google Scholar
Russell, J. (1992). The theory theory: So good they named it twice? Cognitive Development, 7, 485519.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tomasello, M., Call, J., & Hare, B. (2003). Chimpanzees understand psychological states: The question is which ones and to what extent. Trends in Cognitive Science, 7, 153156.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wittgenstein, L. (2009). Philosophical investigations. (Revised 4th ed., translation by G.E.M. Anscombe, P.M.S. Hacker & J. Schulte). Wiley-Blackwell. (original work published 1953).Google Scholar