Revisiting the foundations of constructivism: the ethical and theological groundwork of Piaget’s early psychopedagogical thought

Abstract

Piagetian thought draws on a hybrid foundational matrix in which multiple theoretical lines merge together. Thus, the present study intends to make explicit the metaphysical and theological anchorage of the intellectual questioning of the young J. Piaget so as to demonstrate a relative unity and continuity between categories forged to deal with theological/ethical issues and bio-psycho-pedagogical categories, by yielding special emphasis to immanence-transcendence and cooperation-conflict dialectics. Indeed, if the formative relevance of Piaget’s early biological explorations has been carefully studied, one observes a certain neglect concerning his religious or theological inquiries in the 1910-20’s. However, we hold that the elucidation of his immanentist Protestant ethics provides us with a valuable hermeneutic key to understand the logical necessity of Piaget’s transition towards psychological experimentation, and thereby to Piaget’s construction of explanatory concepts within Genetic Epistemology, favoring the acknowledgment of the value of New Education movement, promoted by the J.-J. Rousseau Institute.