Jean
Piaget was born in Neuchâtel (Switzerland) on August 9, 1896.
He died in Geneva on September 16, 1980. He was the oldest child of
Arthur Piaget, professor of medieval literature at the University,
and of Rebecca Jackson. At age 11, while he was a pupil at Neuchâtel
Latin high school, he wrote a short notice on an albino sparrow. This
short paper is generally considered as the start of a brilliant scientific
career made of over sixty books and several hundred articles. His
interest for mollusks was developed during his late adolescence
to the point that he became a well-known malacologist by finishing
school. He published many papers in the field that remained of interest
for him all along his life. After
high school graduation, he studied natural sciences at the University
of Neuchâtel where he obtained a Ph.D. During this period,
he published two philosophical essays which he considered as "adolescence
work" but were important for the general orientation of his thinking.
After
a semester spent at the University of Zürich where he developed
an interest for psychoanalysis, he left Switzerland for France.
He spent one year working at the Ecole de la rue de la Grange-aux-Belles
a boys' institution created by Alfred Binet and then directed by
De Simon who had developed with Binet a test for the measurement
of intelligence. There, he standardized Burt's test of intelligence
and did his first experimental studies of the growing mind. In
1921, he became director of studies at the J.-J. Rousseau Institute
in Geneva at the request of Sir Ed. Claparède and P. Bovet.
In
1923, he and Valentine Châtenay were married. The couple had
three children, Jacqueline, Lucienne and Laurent whose intellectual
development from infancy to language was studied by Piaget. Successively
or simultaneously, Piaget occupied several chairs: psychology, sociology
and history of science at Neuchâtel from 1925 to 1929; history
of scientific thinking at Geneva from 1929 to 1939; the International
Bureau of Education from 1929 to 1967; psychology and sociology
at Lausanne from 1938 to 1951; sociology at Geneva from 1939 to
1952, then genetic and experimental psychology from 1940 to 1971.
He was, reportedly, the only Swiss to be invited at the Sorbonne
from 1952 to 1963. In 1955, he created and directed until his death
the International Center for Genetic Epistemology. His
researches in developmental psychology and genetic epistemology
had one unique goal: how does knowledge grow? His answer is that
the growth of knowledge is a progressive construction of logically
embedded structures superseding one another by a process of inclusion
of lower less powerful logical means into higher and more powerful
ones up to adulthood. Therefore, children's logic and modes of thinking
are initially entirely different from those of adults.
Piaget's
oeuvre is known all over the world and is still an inspiration in
fields like psychology, sociology, education, epistemology, economics
and law as witnessed in the annual catalogues of the Jean Piaget
Archives. He was awarded numerous prizes and honorary degrees all
over the world.
The following is a video in which Piaget discusses his work:
His interest for mollusks was developed during his late adolescence to the point that he became a well-known malacologist by finishing school. He published many papers in the field that remained of interest for him all along his life.
