儿童认识论的转型

Shifts in Children's Epistemology

儿童认识论有悠久的过去,却只有短暂的历史。它是关于儿童认识的特点、发生机制和发展过程的哲学探究。我国教育与社会长期秉持“间接主义”儿童认识论,认为儿童认识的“特殊性”是以掌握间接经验或“现成知识”为主,而这类知识是人脑对客观现实“正确反映”的结果;儿童的直接经验不具有独立价值,只是掌握“现成知识”的手段。这种观点体现了根深蒂固的二元论哲学,充斥着儿童偏见、客观主义、工具主义、总体主义和权威主义。事实上,人的认识是基于直接经验、借助间接经验、发展直接经验的过程,直接经验是目的,间接经验是手段。直接经验主要由“技能”和“亲知”构成,间接经验主要由“信息”和“科学”构成。儿童的认识发展是由直接经验逐步发展到间接经验,是谓“直接主义”儿童认识论,儿童认识过程就是主动建构对世界理解的过程。走向“建构主义”儿童认识论,意味着确立实验知识观、理解知识观和个人知识观。在信息时代,儿童认识论的愿景是揭示儿童个体认识、儿童文化以及儿童和成人间“交互主体性认识”的新特点和新机制,让“儿童的世纪”发展为“儿童认识论的世纪”。

Children's epistemology has a long past but a short history.It is a philosophical inquiry into the characteristics,genetic mechanism,and developmental process of children's knowing.Chinese education and society have long been holding an“intermediatism”view on children's epistemology,which advocates that the“particularity”of children's knowing is that their major task is to master indirect experience or“ready-made knowledge”,and this kind of knowledge is the“accurate reflection”of the objective reality.On this view,children's direct experience has no intrinsic values,which is just the means to master indirect experience.This view embodies the ingrained philosophy of dualism,and is fed by childism,objectivism,instrumentalism,total narrative,and authoritarianism.In fact,human knowing is based on direct experience,achieved by means of indirect experiences,and gained for the sake of developing direct experience.Direct experience is the end;indirect experience is the means.Direct experience is mainly formed by“skills”and“acquaintance”,and indirect experience is mainly formed by“information”and“science”.The developmental process of children's knowing is from direct experience to indirect experience.This is what we mean by children's epistemology of“immediatism”.The process of children's knowing is children's active construction of the understanding of the world.Going towards children's epistemology of“constructivism”means the establishment of the views of experimental knowledge,understanding-based knowledge,and personal knowledge.In the coming era of information,the study on children's epistemology is expected to reveal the new features and mechanism of children's individual knowing,children's culture,and the intersubjective knowing between children and adults,in order to turn“the century of children”into“the century of children's epistemology”.