Questioning Constructionism: Toward an Ethics of Finitude

Abstract

This article develops an existential-phenomenological critique of the social constructionist movement in psychology, taking its lead from what Kenneth Gergen calls “the most pressing question”: What happens to us when we begin to employ constructionist ideas in our lives? It is suggested that contemporary consumer societies already work according to the logic of social construction and that constructionism already has become many people’s philosophy. Some points of conversion between constructionism and consumerism are pointed out, including a shared focus on identity morphing, aesthetization of life, and a denial of life’s tragic dimensions. As an antidote to this “ethics of infinitude,” this article outlines an existential-phenomenological ethics that starts from certain basic facts of human existence, including human interdependency and mortality. It is argued that nonconstructed moral demands spring from these facts. Social constructionists too easily miss the fact that solidarity, compassion, and care are possible only for finite, vulnerable creatures.