DEVELOPMENTAL-PSYCHOLOGY AND THE RELEVANCE OF A CRITICAL METATHEORETICAL REFLECTION

It is argued that developmental psychology can profit by incorporating ideas not only from other sciences but also from recent developments in the philosophies of knowledge. A resulting learning process with po ssible consequences for research practices is mediated by the self-ref lective cognitive processes of developmental psychologists, To demonst rate the conceptual and intellectual possibilities of metatheory, the following three critical families are delineated and their potential f or developmental psychology discussed: The German critical-theoretical tradition (Habermas, Holzkamp); the postmodern critique of France (Ly otard, Derrida, Foucault); and the multiple voices criticism of North America (feminism, ethnic minorities), The significance of these appro aches is elaborated in terms of problematizations and questions posed to developmental psychology.