“What the genetic epistemology proposes is discovering the roots of the different varieties of knowledge, since its elementary forms, following to the next levels, including also the scientific knowledge” – Jean Piaget
Genetic Epistemology
Genetic Epistemology is a broad topic, and cannot be described simply as being one thing, or one theory. It was the label genetic epistemologist that Piaget original gave himself that Boden states serves as a reminder of his priorities that come before being a developmental psychologist. Piaget was above all a biologist, and epistemologist (Boden, 1979).
It is with this understanding that Genetic Epistemology can be further explored. Although Piaget has been extremely influential in developmental psychology and the four stages of development we have discussed, these findings were never the full intent of his research and writings. He used his own children, and then others to explore how they developed in the attempt to further explain how knowledge arises from a biological and genetic perspective. Piaget never loses sight of the fact that “humans beings are biologically evolved creatures” (Boden, 1979 p.108). She states that it is this biological sensitivity that made Piaget so influential in developmental psychology. It was his quest for how knowledge arises from birth and “his insistence that epistemology be based on sensori-motor knowledge” (Boden, 1979, p.109).
Piaget in the introduction to his book Genetic Epistomology, states that “Genetic epistemology, then, aims to study the origins of the various kinds of knowledge, starting with their most elementary forms, and to follow their development to later levels up to and including scientific thought” (Piaget, 1972, p.15). We can see this illustrated by Grobman below.
