Theroughout a number of these strands of thought there is agreement that empirical knowledge of the world is a human construction. Beyond those cited, this view is shared by Kant and his followers, who see any knowledge of the world as shaped by innate mental categories of thought.
Scepticism concerning absolute empirical knowledge has grown to be the dominant view. However, until Lakatos (1962) the full extension of scrpticism to mathematics was not made. Since then, it has gained partial acceptance, whilst remaining controversial. Social constructivism is an attempt to extend Lakatos’sceptical approach systematically to aphilosophy of mathematics.
However, social constructivism does not entail the fullest of skepticism, such as Cartesian doubt, For it accepts the existence of the physical world (whilst denying certain knowledge of it) and accepts the existence of language and the social group. Both the phvsical and the social worlds play an essential part in the social constructivist epistemology. As a commentator on Wittgenstein says: ‘Doubt presupposes mastery of a language-game. Kenny(1973,page206) socicl constructivism is skeptical about the ossibilitty of any certain knowledge, particularly in mathematics, but it not skeptical about the neoessary pre-conditions for knowledge.