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"Constructivism has been traded as a new paradigm by its advocates, and criticised by its opponents as legitimating deceit and lies, as justifying a trendy post-modern 'Anything goes'. In this book, Bernhard Poerksen draws up a new rationale for constructivist thinking and charts out directions for the imaginative examination of personal certainties and the certainties of others, of ideologies great and small. The focus of the debate is on the author's thesis that our understanding of journalism and, in particular, the education and training of journalists, would profit substantially from constructivist insights. These insights instigate, the claim is, an original kind of scepticism; they provide the underpinnings of a modern type of didactics oriented by the autonomy of learners; and, they supply the sustaining arguments for a radical ethic of responsibility in journalism. Bernhard Poerksen, b. 1969, after six years as professor of journalism and communication studies at the University of Hamburg, is now professor of media studies at the University of Tubingen, Germany. He studied German, journalism and biology in Hamburg and the USA (Pennsylvania State University), worked as a trainee with Deutsches Allgemeines Sonntagsblatt, and has been active as a journalist and an author of books for over ten years. His essays and commentaries, reports and interviews, appear in many daily and weekly newspapers. He has also published numerous articles in scholarly journals and books; his books on cybernetics and constructivism (e.g. ""Understanding Systems"", with Heinz von Foerster; ""From Being to Doing"", with Humberto Maturana; and, ""The Certainty of Uncertainty. Dialogues introducing constructivism"") are available in German, English, Spanish, Danish and Italian versions. In 2008, Bernhard Poerksen was voted 'Professor of the Year' in the category Humanities, Social and Cultural Studies."

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9781845402099

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This is the right way to present constructivism to a critical scientific community as well as to a broader critical public. -- Armin Scholl, Professor at the Institute for Communication Science in Munster, Germany Constructivist Foundations, Volume 6 Number 2

This is the right way to present constructivism to a critical scientific community as well as to a broader critical public. (Armin Scholl, Professor at the Institute for Communication Science in M unster, Germany, in: Constructivist Foundations, Volume 6 Number 2 March 2011 p. 277)

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"Bernhard Poerksen, *1969, is professor of media studies at the University of Tubingen, Germany. His research projects analyse the styles of impression and image management in politics and the media, he regularly contributes comments on current affairs and debates to newspapers, radio, and television. The book he wrote in 1998 with the physicist Heinz von Foerster about the truth in perception (Truth is the Invention of a Liar) became a bestseller and is now considered a classic of systemic thought. In 2008 Bernhard Poerksen was honoured for the quality of his teaching and chosen ""Professor of the Year""."

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