Language and thought: Piaget's course of investigation

Abstract

This study aims at discussing Piaget's course of investigation about the origins and the existent relationship between language and thought. In order to meet our goals, firstly, we will analyze the author's initial works about the evolution and socialization of children's thought and language, emphasizing the exogenous explanation of their progress. Secondly, we will investigate the research studies carried out by Piaget, during the 30's and 40's decades, about the motor-sensory origins of thought and language, focusing the endogenous explanation of their progress. Thirdly, we will analyze the psycholinguistic studies related to normal and disabled children, which confirms Piaget's thesis relevance, concerning the origins of thought and language. Finally, we will point out some of the author's conclusive theses, based on his theoretical framework, concerning the critiques to contemporary empirical and positivist theories.