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| Jean Piaget |
Text and images provided courtesy of the Archives Jean Piaget
Jean
Piaget was born in Neuchâtel (Switzerland) on August 9, 1896. He died in Geneva
on September 16, 1980. He was the oldest child of Arthur Piaget, professor of
medieval literature at the University, and of Rebecca Jackson. At age 11, while
he was a pupil at Neuchâtel Latin high school, he wrote a short notice on an
albino sparrow. This short paper is generally considered as the start of a
brilliant scientific career made of over sixty books and several hundred
articles.
His
interest for mollusks was developed during his late adolescence to
the point that he became a well-known malacologist by finishing
school. He published many papers in the field that remained of
interest for him all along his life.
After
high school graduation, he studied natural sciences at the
University of Neuchâtel where he obtained a Ph.D. During this period,
he published two philosophical essays which he considered as "adolescence
work" but were important for the general orientation of his thinking.
After
a semester spent at the University of Zürich where he developed an
interest for psychoanalysis, he left Switzerland for France. He
spent one year working at the Ecole de la rue de la Grange-aux-Belles
a boys' institution created by Alfred Binet and then directed by De
Simon who had developed with Binet a test for the measurement of
intelligence. There, he standardized Burt's test of intelligence and
did his first experimental studies of the growing mind.
In
1921, he became director of studies at the J.-J. Rousseau Institute
in Geneva at the request of Sir Ed. Claparède and P. Bovet.
In
1923, he and Valentine Châtenay were married. The couple had three
children, Jacqueline, Lucienne and Laurent whose intellectual
development from infancy to language was studied by Piaget.
Successively
or simultaneously, Piaget occupied several chairs: psychology,
sociology and history of science at Neuchâtel from 1925 to 1929;
history of scientific thinking at Geneva from 1929 to 1939; the
International Bureau of Education from 1929 to 1967; psychology and
sociology at Lausanne from 1938 to 1951; sociology at Geneva from
1939 to 1952, then genetic and experimental psychology from 1940 to
1971. He was, reportedly, the only Swiss to be invited at the
Sorbonne from 1952 to 1963. In 1955, he created and directed until
his death the International Center for Genetic Epistemology.
His
researches in developmental psychology and genetic epistemology had
one unique goal: how does knowledge grow? His answer is that the
growth of knowledge is a progressive construction of logically
embedded structures superseding one
another
by a process of inclusion of lower less powerful logical means into
higher and more powerful ones up to adulthood. Therefore, children's
logic and modes of thinking are initially entirely different from
those of adults.
Piaget's
oeuvre is known all over the world and is still an inspiration in
fields like psychology, sociology, education, epistemology,
economics and law as witnessed in the annual catalogues of the Jean
Piaget Archives. He was awarded numerous prizes and honorary degrees
all over the world.
| 1921-25 |
Research Director, Institut Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Geneva |
| 1925-29 |
Professor of Psychology, Sociology and the Philosophy of Science, University of Neuchatel |
| 1929-39 |
Professor of the History of Scientific Thought, University of Geneva |
| 1929-67 |
Director, International Bureau of Education, Geneva |
| 1932-71 |
Director, Institute of Educational Sciences, University of Geneva |
| 1938-51 |
Professor of Experimental Psychology and Sociology, University of Lausanne |
| 1939-51 |
Professor of Sociology, University of Geneva |
| 1940-71 |
Professor of Experimental Psychology, University of Geneva |
| 1952-64 |
Professor of Genetic Psychology, Sorbonne, Paris |
| 1955-80 |
Director, International Centre for Genetic Epistemology, Geneva |
| 1971-80 |
Emeritus Professor, University of Geneva |
Other AppointmentsCo-Director: Department of Education, UNESCO.
Member: Executive Council, UNESCO and 20 Academic Societies
Co-Editor: Archives de Psychologie and 7 other journals
Honorary Doctorates:
Erasmus Prize (1972) and 11 other international prizes.
Bibliography
Piaget published more than 50 books and 500 papers as well as 37 volumes in the series "Etudes d'Epistémologie Génétique" (Studies in Genetic Epistemology). Almost all of these publications are listed in:
Jean Piaget Archives Foundation (1989). The Jean Piaget Bibliography. Geneva: Jean Piaget Archives Foundation. ISBN:288288012X
There is a breakdown of these publications by decade during 1919-1980 in the Preface to:
Smith, L. (1993) Necessary knowledge. Hove: Erlbaum Associates Ltd.
Autobiography:
Bringuier, J.C. (1980). Conversations with Jean Piaget. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Evans, R. (1973). Jean Piaget, the man and his ideas. New York: Dutton.
Piaget, J. (1952). Autobiography. In E. Boring (ed) History of psychology in autobiography. Vol. 4. Worcester, MA: Clark University Press.
Piaget, J. (1976). Autobiographie. Revuee Européenne des Sciences Sociales, 14 (38-39), 1-43.
Main works include:
1918, Recherche. Lausanne: La Concorde.
1924, Judgment and reasoning in the child, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1928.
1936, Origins of intelligence in the child, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1953.
1957, Construction of reality in the child, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1954.
1941, Child's conception of number (with Alina Szeminska), London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1952.
1945, Play, dreams and imitation in childhood, London: Heinemann, 1951.
1949, Traité de logique. Paris: Colin.
1950, Introduction à l'épistémologie génétique 3 Vols. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
1954, Intelligence and affectivity, Palo Alto, CA: Annual Reviews, 1981.
1955, Growth of logical thinking (with Bärbel Inhelder), London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1958.
1962, Commentary on Vygotsky's criticisms. New Ideas in Psychology, 13, 325-40, 1995
1967, Logique et connaissance scientifique. Paris: Gallimard.
1967, Biology and knowledge, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1971.
1970, Piaget's theory. In P. Mussen (ed) Handbook of child psychology, Vol.1. New York: Wiley, 1983.
1970, Main trends in psychology, London: George Allen & Unwin, 1973.
1975, Equilibration of cognitive structures, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985.
1977, Sociological studies, London: Routledge, 1995
1977, Studies in reflecting abstraction. Hove: Psychology Press, 2000
1977, Essay on necessity. Human Development, 29, 301-14, 1986.
1981, Possibility and necessity, 2 Vols, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1987.
1983, Psychogenesis and the history of science (with Rolando Garcia), New York: Columbia University Press, 1989.
1987, Towards a logic of meanings (with Rolando Garcia), Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum Associates, 1991.
1990, Morphisms and categories (with Gil Henriques, Edgar Ascher), Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum Associates, 1992.
Further Reading includes:
Beilin, H. (1992). Piaget's enduring contribution to developmental psychology. Developmental Psychology, 28, 191-204.
Chapman, M. (1988). Constructive evolution: origins and development of Piaget's thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kitchener, R. (1986). Piaget's theory of knowledge. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Smith, L. (1992). Jean Piaget: critical assessments. 4 Vols. London: Routledge.
Smith, L. (1996). Critical readings on Piaget. London: Routledge.
Vidal, F. (1994). Piaget before Piaget. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Vonèche, J.J. (1985). Genetic epistemology: Piaget's theory. International Encyclopedia of Education, Vol. 4. Oxford: Pergamon.
Institutional Addresses relevant to Jean Piaget’s work:Jean Piaget Archives (Switzerland): www.unige.ch/piaget/
Jean Piaget Society: Society for the Study of Knowledge and Development (USA): www.piaget.org
This information is adapted from a biographical review of Piaget’s work:
Smith, L. (1997). Jean Piaget. In N. Sheehy, A. Chapman. W.Conroy (eds). Biographical dictionary of psychology. London: Routledge.
Leslie Smith
November 2000
http://www.piaget.org/aboutPiaget.html