A milestone of child psychology, The Child's Conception of the World explores the ways in which the reasoning powers of young children differ from those of adults. What conceptions of the world does the child naturally form at the different stages of its development? To what extent does the child distinguish the external world from an internal or subjective world and what limits does he or she draw between the self and objective reality? These questions make up the first problem, the child's notion of reality. A second fundamental problem is the significance of explanations put forward by the...

Despite dissent in many quarters, Piaget's epistemology and the developmental psychology derived from it remain the most powerful theories in either field. From the beginning, Piaget's fundamental epistemological notion was that all knowledge is rooted in action, and for a long time, he identified action with transformation. What is known is that which remains constant under transformatory action. This book represents a fundamental reformulation of that point of view. Alongside transformatory schemes, Piaget now presents evidence that nontransformatory actions -- comparisons that create...

This book, the last one written by Piaget, presents a new line of empirical studies based on a revised formulation of his theory of the development of logical reasoning. The amended theory overcomes many problems and criticisms of his earlier formulations by providing a fresh explanation for the origin of mental operations and mental organization based on the concept of meaning. It also offers a more elegant vision of the continuity in mental development from birth to adulthood. As the final revision of Piaget's theory -- and one that opens up new areas of inquiry -- this book calls for a...

This translation of the French Recherches sur l'abstraction reflechissante (1977), make available in English, Piaget's only treatise on reflecting abstraction - a process he came to attribute considerable importance to in his later thinking and which he believed to be responsible for many of the advances that take place in human development, especially our understanding of mathematics.

This translation aims to provide interested psychologists and mathematics educators with a new catalyst for research in cognitive development. It should also prove useful to the mathematics teacher at the precollegiate level who has an interest in the theory of cognitive development and who teaches probability in the classroom. It is, in fact, one of the few works by Piaget that the beginner can read profitably, without needing too much help from the critics, because it gives a relatively clear example of the development of his techniques and thought.

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

During the past few years, the research of the International Center for Genetic Epistemology has dealt with causality, in its broadest sense, including every explanation of a material phenomenon, both the physical aspects of actions and their relationships to objects. The stages in the development of the understanding of causality pose much more difficult problems than the study of operations of the subjects. Because operations essentially show the general coordinations of the action, the stages of their formulation conform to an inner logic that analysis sooner or later succeeds in drawing...

Translated from the French edition, 1983. An attempt to find the most fundamental laws of cognitive development operative in all forms of acquiring knowledge, from the first mental constructions to the most advanced levels of modern scientific endeavor. No bibliography. Annotation copyright Book New"

2012 Reprint of 1926 American Edition. Exact facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Jean Piaget was one of the most salient and inspirational figures in psychological and educational research this century. He was prolific, authoring or editing over eighty books and numerous journal papers which have spawned a huge and fertile continuation of his research over the decades. A major component of any course on children's psychological development and a research tradition that is expanding, scholars need access to the original texts rather than relying...