The Epistemological Meaning of Constraints in the Development of Domain Knowledge

Abstract

This article explores the meaning of the category of `constraint' and the role it plays in contemporary psychological research. First, Chomsky's influential use of this concept is briefly reviewed. Second, the concept of `constraint' is discussed from a metatheoretical point of view. Cognitive approaches usually see constraints as internal to the mind and as logically prior to the process of specific knowledge acquisition. Contextualist approaches consider knowledge processes in terms of a complementary interplay of innate and cultural constraining factors. Third, a reinterpretation of the concept of `constraint' from a constructivist perspective is proposed. A constructivist approach should consider constraints not as `givens', but as dynamic components that may be transformed by the cognitive process itself and that can be made the object of an explicitly epistemological analysis. The argument supports the plausibility and legitimacy of a dialectic or non-dualist approach for interpreting the role of constraints in cognitive development.