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This article is a report of an interview conducted in 2014 with Jean-Louis Le Moigne, to whom we pay tribute here. We will therefore take a thematic look at the key ideas from this interview. Jean-Louis Le Moigne presented us the constructivist thinking and in particular the predominant place of models in any thought. When a researcher is modelling a phenomenon or a dynamic system, he has to study its purposes, transformations, functions and also the environment with which it is permanently linked: in other words, he has to consider the complexity of what he is studying and modelling. Therefore, the researcher’s stance is not neutral and requires to make conscious choices – in particular by being aware that a data is by definition constructed; he has to be responsible and dignified. The researcher’s ethical duty can also be seen in the teaching he provides, a duty exemplified by Jean-Louis Le Moigne.