Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-03T00:28:54.007Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Nature and Scope of Genetic Epistemology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Richard F. Kitchener
Richard F. Kitchener*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Colorado State University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Although the theory of Jean Piaget is correctly characterized as genetic epistemology, its nature and scope remain unclear and controversial. An examination of Piaget's Introduction à l'épistémologie génétique indicates that Piaget relies heavily upon a model of comparative anatomy and, consequently, that genetic epistemology is about both the history of science and individual development. This biological model seems to be the basis for Piaget's view that the history of science can be seen as a (Kantian) history of scientific concepts whereas psychogenetic development is a history of these very same concepts on the individual level. Finally, although there are passages indicating a different interpretation of the scope of genetic epistemology, I give several reasons for preferring the more liberal interpretation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 48 , Issue 3 , September 1981 , pp. 400 - 415
Copyright
Copyright © 1981 by the Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

†

I wish to thank Guy Cellerier, Pat McKee and Pierre Moessinger whose comments about the issues discussed in this paper have been very helpful. I also wish to thank two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.

References

REFERENCES

Cellerier, G. (1973), Piaget. Paris: P.U.F.Google Scholar
Copleston, F. (1977), A History of Philosophy. Vol. 9: Maine de Biran to Sartre. Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Co.Google Scholar
Farber, M. (ed.) (1968), Philosophic Thought in France and the United States. (2nd ed.) Albany, New York: S.U.N.Y.Google Scholar
Fetz, R. L. (1978), “Piaget als philosophisches Ereignis”. In Steiner, G. (ed.), Die Psychologie des 20. Jahrhunderts. Vol. VII: Piaget und die Folgen. Zurich: Kindler.Google Scholar
Gaukroger, S. W. (1976), “Bachelard and the Problem of Epistemological Analysis”. Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science 7: 189–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamlyn, D. (1971), “Epistemology and Conceptual Development”. In T. Mischel (ed.) Cognitive Development and Epistemology. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Hamlyn, D. (1978), Experience and the Growth of Understanding. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Kaplan, B. (1971), “Genetic Psychology, Genetic Epistemology and Theory of Knowledge”. In Mischel, T. (ed.), Cognitive Development and Epistemology. New York: Academic Press: pp. 61–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kitchener, R. F. (1978), “Epigenesis: the Role of Biological Models in Developmental Psychology”. Human Development 21: 151–160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kitchener, R. F. (1980a), “Piaget's Genetic Epistemology”. International Philosophical Quarterly 20: 377–405.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kitchener, R. F. (1980b), “Genetic Epistemology, Normative Epistemology and Psychologism”. Synthese 45: 257–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kitchener, R. F. (1981a), “Piaget's Social Psychology”. Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior. (in press).Google Scholar
Kitchener, R. F. (1981b), “Genetic Epistemology, History of Science and Genetic Psychology”. (forthcoming).Google Scholar
Kitchener, R. F. (1982), “Developmental Explanations”. (forthcoming).Google Scholar
Kuhn, T. (1971), “Notes on Lakatos”. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science Vol. 8. (Ed. by Buck, R. C. and Cohen, R. S.). Dordrecht: D. Reidel.Google Scholar
Lecourt, D. (1975), Marxism and Epistemology: Bachelard, Canguilhem and Foucault. London: NLB.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1924), “L'expérience humaine et la causalité physique de L. Brunschvicg”. Journal de Psychologie 21: 586–607.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1925), “Psychologie et critique de la connaissance”. Archives de Psychologie 19: 193–210.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1928), “Logique génétique et sociologie”. Revue philosophique 57: 167–205.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1942), “Intellectual Evolution.” In Aushen, R. N. (ed.), Science and Man. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co. Reprinted by Greenwood Press, 1968.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1950a), Introduction à l'épistémologie génétique. Vol. I: La pensée mathematique. Paris: P.U.F. (2nd Ed., 1973).Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1950b), Introduction à l'épistémologie génétique. Vol. II: La pensée physique. Paris: P.U.F. (2nd Ed. 1973).Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1950c), Introduction à l'épistémologie génétique. Vol. III: La pensée biologique, psychologique et sociologique. Paris: P.U.F.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1952), “Autobiography”. In Boring, E. G. (ed.), A History of Psychology in Autobiography. Vol. IV. Worchester, Mass.: Clark University Press.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1955), “Les lignes générales de l'épistémologie génétique”. Actes du IV Congress de l'Union Internationale de Philosophie des Sciences. Zurich, 1954. Neuchatel: Editions du Griffon.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1957), “Programme et méthodes de l'épistémologie génétique”. In W. E. Beth, et al (eds.), Épistémologie génétique et recherche psychologique (Etudes d'épistémologie génétique, Vol. I) Paris: P.U.F.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1965a), “Psychology and Philosophy”. In Wolman, B. B. (ed.), Scientific Psychology. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1965b), Etudes sociologiques. Geneva: Droz.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1967a), “L'épistémologie et ses variétés”. In J. Piaget, et al (eds.), Logique et connaissance scientifique. Paris: Gallimard.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1967b), “Les méthodes de l'épistémologie”. In J. Piaget, et al (eds.), Logique et connaissance scientifique. Paris: Gallimard.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1967c), “Le système et la classification des sciences”. In Piaget, J. (ed.), Logique et connaissance scientifique. Paris: Gallimard.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1967d), “Les courants de l'épistémologie scientifique contemporaine”. In Piaget, J. (ed.), Logique et connaissance scientifique. Paris: Gallimard.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1969), The Child's Conception of Physical Causality. Totowa, N. J.: Littlefield, Adams & Co.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1970), Structuralism. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1971), Genetic Epistemology. New York: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1972a), Psychology and Epistemology. New York: Viking.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1972b), The Principles of Genetic Epistemology. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. and Inhelder, B. (1969), “The Gaps in Empiricism”. In Koestler, A. and Smythies, J. R. (eds.), Beyond Reductionism. Boston: Beacon.Google Scholar
Russell, J. (1978), The Acquisition of Knowledge. New York: St. Martin's Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, C. (1971), “What is Involved in a Genetic Epistemology?” In a Genetic Epistemology? (ed.), Cognitive Development and Epistemology. New York: Academic.Google Scholar
Toulmin, S. (1971), “The Concept of ‘Stages’ in Psychological Development”. In Mischel, T. (ed.), Cognitive Development and Epistemology. New York: Academic.Google Scholar
Tripp, G. M. (1978), Betr.: Piaget: Philosophie oder Psychologie. Koln: Paul-Regenstein.Google Scholar
Wartofsky, M. W. (1971), “From Praxis to Logos: Genetic Epistemology and Physics”. In Mischel, T. (ed.), Cognitive Development and Epistemology. New York: Academic.Google Scholar