A Review Of Piagef’s Genetic Epistemology

Piaget is one of the most important western theorists in the20thcentury,he presents the theory of genetic epistemology to describe theoccurrence and development of human cognition,this behavior fills theblank left by the traditional epistemology.After Piaget’s death,sometheorists continue their study by following Piaget’ s theoreticalidea,some theorists build new theories by opposing Piaget’s theory,butthere is still strong interpretative strength of genetic epistemologytill now.In order to remove the misunderstanding of Piaget’s theory andreveal the importance of the study on his theory in contemporary. Thisstudy will sort out the academic experience of Piaget and the main ideaof his theory,make a conclusion for the characteristics and effects ofgenetic epistemology,analyze the relative comments on Piaget’s theorymade by other theorists.First,this study introduces the significance,the innovation and theinsufficiency of this study,then introduces Piaget’s family, academicexperience and the theoretical study situation home and abroad.These willmake great helps for understanding the outstanding interdisciplinarycharacteristic of genetic epistemology and the importance of making afurther philosophical study on it.Second,this study sorts out the main idea of geneticepistemology,makes a elaboration for the development of sensorimotorstage and preoperational stage,detailedly divides sensorimotor stageinto6levels and preoperational stage into2levels.In order to revealPiaget’ s concern of social-environmental factors,this study also introduces the comparison between cognitive development and scientificdevelopment made by Piaget in his late years.Third,this study makes a conclusion for the characteristics andeffects of genetic epistemology.There are elaborations for thecharacteristics of multidisciplinary theoretical resources,positiveresearch discipline and interdisciplinary contents in geneticepistemology.There are also elaborations for the effects in the field ofepistemology,education for children,computer science and AI.Finally,this study analyzes kinds of comments on geneticepistemology,distinguishes the misunderstanding ones,then reveals thesuperiority and limitation of genetic epistemology.Therethrough confirmsthe strong interpretative strength of genetic epistemology,and makes itclear that it is important to make a further study on Piaget’s theoryeven now.