The child's conception of physical causality

by Jean Piaget

x 398p green cloth, fresh and clean copy from a Cambridge college library, hardly used, this copy published in the year 1951 in the series entitled International Library of Psychology, Philosophy and Scientific Method

Genres: Psychology, Education

309 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1930

About the author

Jean Piaget (1896 - 1980) was a Swiss philosopher, natural scientist and developmental theorist, well known for his work studying children, his theory of cognitive development, and his epistemological view called "genetic epistemology." In 1955, he created the International Centre for Genetic Epistemology in Geneva and directed it until his death in 1980. According to Ernst von Glasersfeld, Jean Piaget was "the great pioneer of the constructivist theory of knowing."

Reviews

[James F · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just as Piaget's first two books were essentially one book in two volumes, so his third book (The Child's Conception of the World) and this fourth book are essentially one book; he ends this, as he did the second book, with a "Summary and Conclusions" of both volumes. In The Child's Conception of the World he described the child's ideas of the world and nature in general; in this one, he goes into detail on a few specific areas.

Section I on Movement describes experiments/observations of children concerning air and wind, the clouds and sun and moon, and water currents, and ends with a theoretical account of children's ideas of "force" (élan) which introduces the ideas of "assimilation" and "imitation" which will become central in his later work (according to the introduction.) Section II is on floating boats, the level of water when things are put into it, and shadows. Section III is on children's explanations of machinery, especially bicycles and toy steam engines.

Section IV is the summary and conclusions to both volumes, and also deals with "imitation" and "assimilation" and discusses the relationship of his work to various philosophers' and psychologists' ideas from Maine de Biran to M.E. Meyerson (a philosopher of science who is -- unfortunately in my opinion -- rarely read today.) I wish I had read this book, particularly the conclusions, back when I was studying epistemology and philosophy of science in college.

[Xenia Costiuc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Give insight into how Children make their choices, how they perceive the world in different stages of development.