A TRUSTING CONSTRUCTIVIST APPROACH TO OUR RESPONSIBILITIES AS SYSTEMIC THINKERS

摘要

This paper offers an indication of the manner in which what I call a “trustingrnconstructivist” approach to our responsibilities as systemic thinkers can be defended. Irnwork with the constructivist view that, as Banathy puts it: “what we know about thernworld becomes projected onto the world” (1998, Incoming Presidential Address for thernISSS). That is, our theoretical constructions and ways of thinking in relation to the worldrncannot be considered separately from the impacts that they might have on the unfolding ofrnpossibilities. Recognizing our involvement in the development of systems, means that werncan reconsider – with others – the status of our own constructions as potentiallyrngenerating self-fulfilling effects. A trusting constructivist view suggests that peoplerncannot desist from offering their own constructions (that embody their particularrnconcerns) in processes of inquiry (professional or otherwise). But they need to recognizernthe choices that they are making as they create constructions, so that they can account forrnthese in relation to alternatives in social discourse, as a way of earning others’ trust inrntheir ways of seeing and acting.