Piaget-Vygotsky

About this book

This book is the outcome of a long and passionate debate among world experts about two of the most pivotal figures in psychology: Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky. The occasion was a week-long advanced course held at the Jean Piaget Archives in Geneva. The most interesting outcome of the meeting is that, in spite of differences in aims and scopes (epistemogenesis versus psychogenesis), in units of analysis (action versus praxis), and in social contexts (Swiss capitalism versus Soviet communism), both Piaget and Vygotsky reached a similar conclusion: Knowledge is constructed within a specific material and social context. Moreover, their views complement each other perfectly; where Vygotsky insists on varieties of psychological experiences, Piaget shows how out of diversity grows universality, so much so that the more communist of the two is not necessarily the one who was so labelled. This book will not only be of interest to developmental, social, and learning psychologists, because it also deals with issues pertinent to education, epistemology, language, thought and cognition, anthropology, and philosophy. It is also likely to shed some light on the state of affairs in psychology for the general reader because it is clear, precise, and straightforward.