[quoting Viljoen, 22 Feb 96] Many years ago at high school a wise teacher said to us in class: "Remember that there are usually three sides to an argument--yours, mine, and the right one."
Now I wonder which one in this debate is the right one?
Back in the 1600s it was a respectable theory that the Poles were warm in the summer because the sun never sets. Intelligent people debated this. Eventually someone made it to North Pole and settled the question. Some people were right and some were wrong.
Jerry Fodor says that philosophy is what you do until you understand something well enough to do science. Judging by the amount of philosophy in instructional design, I would say we don't understand it well enough to do science. But, I would argue that there is some movement on this subject in other disciplines, and we are very close to reaching the Poles.