Wittgensteinian Perspectives and Science Education Research
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Otterbein University Digital Commons @ Otterbein Administrators/Executives/Staff Scholarship Administrative Offices, ogrPr ams and Centers 2016 Wittgensteinian Perspectives and Science Education Research Wendy Sherman-Heckler Otterbein University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.otterbein.edu/acaffairs_scholar Part of the Science and Mathematics Education Commons Repository Citation Sherman-Heckler, Wendy, "Wittgensteinian Perspectives and Science Education Research" (2016). Administrators/Executives/Staff Scholarship. 6. https://digitalcommons.otterbein.edu/acaffairs_scholar/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Administrative Offices, ogrPr ams and Centers at Digital Commons @ Otterbein. It has been accepted for inclusion in Administrators/Executives/Staff Scholarship by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Otterbein. For more information, please contact [email protected]. W Wittgensteinian Perspectives Wittgenstein’s name has been invoked with and Science Education Research increasing regularity, especially since what might be termed the “social turn” in research on learning Wendy Sherman Heckler in (science) education, including interest in the role Office of Academic Affairs, Otterbein University, of discursive interaction in human development Westerville, OH, USA and in sociological studies of scientificpractice. Less understood but no less significant in education research are the implications of Wittgenstein’s Synonyms vision of an alternative orientation for philosophy and, in turn, the impact of this vision on theory and Ludwig wittgenstein; Peter winch; Science research in the various human sciences. Wittgen- learning; stein claimed that frustration with psychology should not be mistaken for problems related to its being an underdeveloped science. Rather, he Introduction faulted “conceptual confusions” in which pre- scribed methods are thought to deliver solutions As one of the most influential philosophers of the to problems but instead miss the mark entirely. twentieth century, Ludwig Wittgenstein Extending these Wittgensteinian points, phi- (1889–1951) has impacted a variety of scholarly losopher Peter Winch argued that social science disciplines, including education theory and is much more conceptual than empirical and that research. Wittgenstein’s later works are often the proper understanding of meaningful human cited for their insights into a wide variety of phil- action involves dialectical examination of lan- osophical topics, including meaning and under- guage use. Producing empirical evidence to sat- standing, rule following, the “inner” and “outer” isfy an essentially conceptual question – for realms of human activity, and certainty about example, concern with identifying the “most knowledge. In contrast to the representationalist effective instructional method” or even “what view of language expressed in his earlier work, was learned in a laboratory exercise”–results in these writings identify the meaning of an expres- begging the question, regardless of the depth of sion as its rule-governed use in language, inextri- care we take in specifying operational definitions. cably tied to its use in our lives. Most theories that get adopted in education # Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2016 M.A. Peters (ed.), Encyclopedia of Educational Philosophy and Theory, DOI 10.1007/978-981-287-532-7_40-1 2 Wittgensteinian Perspectives and Science Education Research research end up simply replacing the answers not the task of philosophy to produce this expla- given to the perpetual problems of educational nation, perhaps this is the rightful role of linguis- practice while leaving central analytic orienta- tics or social science more generally? Although tions intact; Wittgenstein’s and Winch’s notions some have certainly advanced this interpretation force us to examine whether education researchers of Wittgenstein, a more common response is to should instead fundamentally change the ques- point to his numerous references to the commonly tions that are asked. perceived but sorely misguided need to secure the foundations of all knowledge. Rather than suggesting a skeptical interpretation of his discus- Wittgenstein’s Philosophy sions of rule following, Wittgensteinian philoso- phers such as Peter Hacker (1999) and Cora Numerous summaries of Wittgenstein’s biogra- Diamond (1989) urge us to understand his writ- phy and philosophical contributions exist; only ings as pointing to the way that rules exist against broad arguments related most directly to the a background of modes of living in and talking uptake of his work in science education are about the world; rules and contexts are mutually given here. As outlined in Philosophical Investi- constitutive rather than causally emergent and in gations (Wittgenstein 1958) and other posthu- need of explanation. mously organized collections of his vast notes Wittgenstein’s insistence on the rule-governed and dialectical exemplars, Wittgenstein’s later nature of our lives may also be heard as validation work was concerned with pointing to the of scholars who insist on the primacy of social, unrelieved role of grammar in philosophical puz- rather than psychological, explanations of human zles. Wittgenstein proposed time and again that behavior. It is the case that Wittgenstein discusses philosophical difficulties were often the result of a and rejects the idea of a “private language”–the lack of clarity surrounding our concepts; certain notion that an individual attaches unique names to expressions (e.g., “to be” or “to exist”) continually individual experiences, and this creates an “inner lure us into supposed philosophical crises, world” known only to himself (e.g., see Hacker whereas examining the expression’s logic in use 1999). Typically, however, Wittgenstein should suggests a “therapeutic” alternative analysis and be interpreted not as “taking sides” in a familiar resolution. battle but as resetting the terms of the debate; in The analysis of the meaning of an expression this case, it is not so much the triumph of “social” relies on examination of its ordinary use in our over “individual” worlds that is noteworthy but, lives, use that is embedded in what Wittgenstein rather, the way in which the “inner-outer divide” referred to as “language games.” A language itself can be seen as illusory and a product of our game is essentially a grammar of practice, rule ways of speaking rather than a conundrum in governed, and knowable to competent speakers desperate need of resolution. of a language. It is sometimes assumed that Related to this critique of the mind-body philosophy’s task is to produce solutions to puz- (or more contemporary brain-body) dualism, zles of meaning and existence, akin to the natural Wittgenstein is largely seen as having dismantled sciences’ aim to produce causal explanations of a representationalist view of language. “Repre- observed patterns and relationships. Again, how- sentationalist” refers to the notion that language ever, for Wittgenstein, the goal of philosophy ties to and names the world, such that its use is properly conceived is to produce clarifying indicative of something lying behind it; language descriptions of the rule-governed use of concepts “stands for” or “points to” something, in the way in our various language games. that announcing “I am hungry” is sometimes One question raised by Wittgenstein’s philos- thought to imply that the speaker is translating ophy concerns the source of the aforementioned introspection into words, orienting to her inner rules: is it in fact the case that the origin of these condition in order to communicate with others. rules is what is in need of explanation? And if it is Alternatively, stating “I am hungry” can be seen Wittgensteinian Perspectives and Science Education Research 3 simply as a rule-governed behavior we engage in rationalities as more relevant to the student’s task (rather than, e.g., crying or enduring the pain of an than a universal scientific logic. empty stomach). It is a subtle distinction to talk of A second strand of research has enlisted Witt- language as expressing rather than representing. genstein in the project of theorizing student learn- And of course, language can be used to represent, ing as a sociocultural rather than individual- or to name – Wittgenstein challenges us to see that psychological process. Students’ acquisition of representing is but one use for language, not a scientific concepts was characterized as success- fundamental, singular, or universal relationship ful participation in a scientific language game. between language and the world. Most theorists argued for a picture of learning that involved a combination of “individual” and “social” elements, for example, appropriate lan- Influence in Science Education Research guage performance as evidence of a scientific concept correctly internalized. However, occa- In order to appreciate the influence of sionally Wittgenstein’s philosophy has been used Wittgenstein’s writings in science education in science education to argue for rejecting the research, it is helpful to have a general outline of individual-social dichotomy and any sense of a studies of student learning in the field. While uniquely individual cognition. consensus on the approach to research or even The introduction and use of the science studies the goal of inquiry is not readily apparent, the literature – broadly, sociological, historical and overwhelming focus has been