This book describes and illustrates the nature of dialectical thinking as a cognitive psychological phenomenon, and makes the case that this form of cognitive organizaton is a possible successor to the adolescent formal operations stage. It uses the idea of dialectical thinking to organize theory and research on adult forms of reasoning about specific kinds of issues into a rich and coherent conceptual framework for the study of adult development. This framework makes feasible an approach to the study of adult development firmly rooted in the genetic epistemological tradition as an...

This is the first systematic analysis of Baldwin's genetic epistemology and its relation to the contemporary social sciences. It is prepared by ten psychologists, philosophers, and educators--including Piaget, Kholberg, and Campbell--from in-depth conceptual and empirical perspectives. This volume provides a comprehensive account of Baldwin's philosophical psychology, social and cognitive developmentalism, functionalism, symbolic interactionism, idealist aesthetics, and theoretical biology. Moreover, it provides the first bibliography and commentary of his work to appear in print.