Influences

Piaget's work was heavily influenced by a number psychologists's and philosopher's, whose work pre-dated his own. On this page, we will take a brief look at the lives and work of some of them below.

Immanuel Kant was a German Philosopher in the latter half of the 18th century. He was born in the East Prussian city of Konigsberg, and it was here that he studied at university. Soon after being exposed to it in his first year, he became interested in the study of philosophy. After graduating from university, he worked as a tutor, all whilst working on his own future publications, such as "Thoughts on the True Estimation of Living Forces", "Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens" and "A New Elucidation of the First Principles of Metaphysical Cognition", among others. In 1755, he took up a teaching position at his old university, Albertina, where he taught for the next four decades. Whilst lecturing, he continued to publish philosophical works on a regular basis, and in 1770, he was appointed to the chair in Logic and Metaphysics in the university. He retired in 1797 at the age of 73, and eventually died in 1804 just shy of the age of 80.
 * [|Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)]**

Piaget was influenced by Kant's concept of Innate Categories, or schemas, that is, concepts which we are hardwired to understand, and that our knowledge of the world around us is due to a combination of our perceptions, and this innate ability. Piaget, rather than agreeing with it however, attempted to show that he was wrong, and that these categories, are not innate. Instead, Piaget believed that these categories, were developed through qualitative stages, and that they are gradually learned over time, as a child develops.

Henri Bergson was a famous French philosopher in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was born in Paris, the second of seven children to Jewish parents, and from an early age, showed a natural aptitude for learning, excelling in maths. It was said that he could have easily become a mathematician, though he gave up on this in favour of studying philosophy. After graduating from university in 1881, Bergson began a teaching career. In 1900, he was appointed Chair of Philosophy at the Collège de France, a position he held until 1921. After this, he became the President of the Commission for Intellectual Cooperation of the League of Nations. Bergson died in 1941, at the age of 81, in Nazi-occupied France. It was said that he was offered an exemption from anti-semitic restrictions, an offer he refused, during this occupation.
 * [|Henri Bergson (1859-1941)]**

Bergson was heavily influenced by the works of Charles Darwin, regarding evolution and genetics. His work in turn in this area was an influence on Piaget. Piaget was a noted critic of Bergson but he did at least, seem to share his overall view on philosophy, with regards to evolution playing an important role in the development of knowledge.

Pierre Janet was a French philosopher and psychologist, remembered primarily for his work relating to dissociation and traumatic memory. He was born in Paris in 1859, to an upper middle class family. He was a good student, whose interests were divided between science and philosophy. He began his academic career as a professor of philosophy in 1881, at the age of 22. Later in 1889, he began to study medecine, which he earned a degree in, in 1893. In the mid to late 1880s, he worked under the famous neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot, and it was during this time that he began to contribute to the field of psychotherapy, primarily through the use of hypnosis as a treatment for hysteria. Unfortunately, his contributions at the time to psychotherapy, were overlooked in favour of those of his contemporary, Sigmund Freud, and his theory of psychoanalysis. He continued to teach until 1935, and even when retired, he continued to publish research articles right up until his death in 1947.
 * Pierre Janet (1859-1947)**

Pierre Janet was one of the first psychologists to study mental operations, an area which Piaget would later expand upon at a developmental level, in his own research, particularly in his Four Stages of Cognitive Development.

James Mark Baldwin was an American psychologist and philosopher, known for his contributions to the theory of evolution. He was born in 1861 in Columbia, South Carolina. After graduating from Princeton University in 1884 he began studying under Wilhelm Wundt and Friedrich Paulsen in Germany. Following this, in 1885 he joined the Princeton Theological Seminary, where he worked as the instructor of French and German. In 1887 he found work as a professor of philosophy at Lake Forest College, and soon after in 1889, he went to the University of Toronto as the Chair of Logic and Metaphysics. In 1893, he returned to Princeton University as the Chair in Psychology, where he would stay until 1903, when following a conflict over pay and teaching hours that were expected of him, he would leave for John Hopkins University. After a scandal, in which he was arrested in a brothel in 1908, his career in America was finished, and he was forced to move to France, where he would remain for the rest of his life, until his death in 1934.
 * [|James Mark Baldwin (1861-1934)]**

Baldwin was influential in the area of developmental psychology and his stage theory of development was particularly influential on Piaget, an area upon which Piaget would later expand.