Reflections on Piaget.

This article presents information about the memorial conference, organized by the Developmental Psychology Program at Teachers College, Columbia University, to mark the death of psychologist Jean Piaget. It was held on September 17, 1980. Sixteen scholars from the fields of psychology, philosophy, a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Teachers College Record Vol. 83; no. 2; pp. 151 - 218
Main Authors: Broughton, John M., Leadbeater, Bonnie, Amsel, Eric
Format: Proceedings
Published: Sage Publications Inc. Winter1981
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Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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Summary:This article presents information about the memorial conference, organized by the Developmental Psychology Program at Teachers College, Columbia University, to mark the death of psychologist Jean Piaget. It was held on September 17, 1980. Sixteen scholars from the fields of psychology, philosophy, and education presented brief reflections on Piaget's work to an audience of about sixty people. Teachers College was an appropriate venue for this memorial. Its developmental psychology tradition--dating back to Edward L. Thorndike's pioneer work in child study and formatively influenced by John Dewey's role in the college--has been a strong one, uniting theory and practice in its linking of psychology to education. The participants were unusually well qualified to speak on the significance of Piaget's work. Conversation ranged from physics and molecular biology to social theory and political philosophy. There was examination of the historical roots of genetic epistemology, the possibility of a Piaget-Freud or Piaget-Marx synthesis, the relevance of developmental psychology to education, and the imagined dimensions of a post-Piagetian theory.