Piagetian perspectives

Hans Furth

pp. 142-168

in: John Sants (ed), Developmental psychology and society, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 1980

Abstract

It would be right to call Piaget's theory an epistemology since he set out to investigate the nature and limits of knowledge from a perspective which had hitherto been peculiar to philosophers. But he added the qualifying adjective genetic to indicate that his method of investigation would differ from the philosopher's. From the philosopher's viewpoint, Piaget's preoccupation with developmental observations was unheard of, and from the scientist's point of view his willingness to allow the search for answers to theoretical questions to be emphasised rather than the 'scientific method" seemed equally disturbing.

Cited authors

Piaget Jean