Alexander Riegler

Alexander Riegler
Known for	Radical constructivism; editor-in-chief of Constructivist Foundations
Scientific career
Fields	Cognitive science, Epistemology, Philosophy of science
Institutions	Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Alexander Riegler is a researcher in cognitive science and epistemology and a leading proponent of radical constructivism. He has been a research fellow at universities including the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and is the founding editor-in-chief of the journal Constructivist Foundations. He is listed in The Worldwide List of Dissident Scientists.

Ideas

Riegler's work centres on radical constructivism, the position that we construct our own world of experience rather than perceive an external reality as it is. On this view, most consistently developed by Ernst von Glasersfeld, cognition cannot transcend experience, so it is held to be meaningless to claim that our constructions gradually approach the structure of an external reality; the mind is treated as an epistemological solipsist. Riegler has applied and defended these ideas across cognitive science, artificial life, second-order cybernetics and non-dualizing philosophy, and since 2005 has edited Constructivist Foundations, a journal devoted to constructivist approaches.

His constructivist critique of scientific realism is a philosophical position that challenges the assumption that science describes a mind-independent external world, which is the basis for his listing among critics of the mainstream view of science.

External links

• Alexander Riegler (personal page)
• Principia Cybernetica: people