This double issue of Cybernetics and Human Knowing is dedicated to celebrating the life and work of Heinz von Foerster, cybernetician extraordinaire. He died on October 2nd, 2002. Mai von Foerster, his wife of over 60 years, died on June 22nd, 2003. They lived as a team and it is wrong to think of the work that appeared under the authorship of Heinz von Foerster without thinking of Mai's part i...

The discourse on feminism and ecology is familiar in literary studies as well socio-cultural scenario. But it seldom merged with each other-it has probably only been five decades since Indian literature started discussing Eco feminism. feminism, short, blends the theories of ecology. This research paper critically analyses poems prolific writers Sugathakumari Kamala Das who always fought for up...

Social constructivist approaches in technology studies have recently gained the attention of philosophers of technology, as is shown by a number of publications (e.g., Mitcham, 1995; Feenberg and Hannay, 1995; Winner, 1991, 1994; Feenberg, 1992, 1995). Whereas the aim of some of these studies is to provide a philosophical critique of social constructivism (e.g., Winner 1991), others aim to inco...

Social constructivist approaches in technology studies have recently gained the attention of philosophers of technology, as is shown by a number of publications (e.g., Mitcham, 1995; Feenberg and Hannay, 1995; Winner, 1991, 1994; Feenberg, 1992, 1995). Whereas the aim of some of these studies is to provide a philosophical critique of social constructivism (e.g., Winner, 1991), others aim to inc...

In 1974, W. J. McKeachie published a brief article in The Educational Researcher called, “The Decline and Fall of the Laws of Learning.” This article was primarily about the decline and fall of the behaviorist laws of learning and radical behaviorism, both of which were never quite the same in psychology or education after this article as before it was published. The purpose of this paper is to...

In this paper, the perspective of situated cognition, which gave rise both to the pragmatic theories and the so-called semantic theories of learning and has probably become the most representative standpoint of constructivism, is examined. We consider the claim of situated cognition to provide alternative explanations of the learning phenomenon to those of psychology and, especially, to those o...

................................................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................. ii Table of