Research On Piaget's Theory And Kant's A Priori Categories System

The starting point of the doctorial dissertation is:In considering Kantian background in Piaget's early thought formation and the strong Kantian color in his theory of cognitive development,for cognitive developmentalist it is impossible to comprehend Piaget's theory (especially his development theory) if the relation between Piaget's theory and Kant's epistemology,especially Kant's "a priori " categories system is not understood and distinguished. So our researching purpose is to thoroughly classify and reasonably reconstruct the inner link between Piaget's theory and Kant's a priori categories system,thus to have further scientific grasp of the theoretical origin,nature of the subject,essential features and the future developing direction of Piaget's theory.So the significance of this dissertation is to contribute to making us clear Piaget's main theoretical direction of research,the central point of the content,the outstanding contribution and the developing trend in the future. Briefly speaking,Kant's "a priori " categories are the starting point of Piaget's theory. The direction of research set by Piaget in his early years is ontogenesis research of "categories" in Kantian meaning. And the central point of Piaget's theory is the individual genesis and development of "categories",which is of general sense for cognitive development. Tracing back to the origin of the categories from children's activities thus surpassing Kant's apriorism in is Piaget's outstanding contribution in revealing the secret of human reason development. Piaget's research and his conclusion are still of universal instructive significance for the future research of cognitive development. Moreover,it is conducive to remove the usual puzzle and the misunderstanding which people have when they read Piaget. Most puzzling problems can be readily resolved once we understand the Piaget's Kantian theoretical background and the basic train of thought.The train of thought or the argument of this thesis can be roughly divided into three parts. The first part is the historical investigation of Piaget's Kantian theoretical background and the research of the inner link between Piaget's theory and Kant's a priori categories system. Piaget said:"I have reinvestigated Kant's a priori categories system and created a discipline- Genetic Epistemology." Although Piaget was influenced in many ways in his early years,concerning the intrinsic rationalist quality of Piaget's constructionism,the influence of Kant is profounder than any other thinker in history. The problems raised by Piaget,his solutions for them and the final effect of epistemology are all closely related to even have many similarities with Kant' theory. The "mission" in Piaget's youth could be summarized into " Logic is the morality of thought," which meant to inquire into the relation between "science" ("logic") and "morality" (or "faith"). He suggested substituting a "rational faith" in "a God that increasingly forms one body with the world,that is,with reason and its cadres" for Kant's "faith" in the existence of a transcendental realm. He advocated substituting "historical-critical method" for Kant's "critique of pure reason". Kant's "critique",namely direct "reflective analysis" of science in a particular time," has been proved definitely inferior"(because Kant completely separate psychogenetics- only defining the emerging order of " categories "and accidentally having been awared of - from epistemology).Piaget spent all his life trying to answer a classic problem of epistemology raised by Kant:how could the accord between subject's idea and empirical object-in Kant's words,the necessary accord between experience got from empirical intuition and concepts of empirical object,be possible? Piaget usually regarded the problem as "paradoxical accord between thought and the universe","the surprising convergences between mathematical deduction and experiences","amazing accord between mathematics and physics". He called it the crucial question of "western thought" from Descartes,Lei...