The Problem of Speech and Thinking in Piaget’s Theory

Abstract

This chapter is an abbreviated version of the preface written by Vygotsky for the Russian edition of Piaget's first two books (Gosizdat, Moscow, 1932). Vygotsky's criticism, based on Piaget's early work, is hardly applicable to Piaget's later formulations of his theories – Editor. I PSYCHOLOGY owes a great deal to Jean Piaget. It is not an exaggeration to say that he revolutionized the study of child language and thought. He developed the clinical method of exploring children's ideas which has since been widely used. He was the first to investigate child perception and logic systematically; moreover, he brought to his subject a fresh approach of unusual amplitude and boldness. Instead of listing the deficiencies of child reasoning compared with that of adults, Piaget concentrated on the distinctive characteristics of child thought, on what the child has rather than on what the child lacks. Through this positive approach he demonstrated that the difference between child and adult thinking was qualitative rather than quantitative.