Introduction

Ole Skovsmose

pp. 1-4

in: Ole Skovsmose (ed), An invitation to critical mathematics education, Rotterdam, SensePublishers, 2011

Abstract

In many cases it does not make sense to distinguish between a phenomenon and the discourse about the phenomenon. The discourse constitutes the phenomenon and comes to make part of it. Different languages not only provide different world views but also different worlds. Our life-worlds are discursively constructed. However, there might be limitations to an extreme discourse relativism, which not only blurs the distinction between language and reality, but claims this very distinction to be meaningless. To me the interesting thing is not to repeat an extreme relativism as if it was a universal truth, but to address it critically.