H. Beilin, Is Piaget truly an epistemologist? Commentary on Leslie Smith's "Epistemological principles for developmental psychology in Frege and Piaget", NEW IDEA PS, 17(2), 1999, pp. 119-121
Leslie Smith has earned an enviable reputation as a scholar of Piaget's the
ories and research. His paper, "Epistemological principles for developmenta
l psychology in Frege and Piaget" will add to that reputation. His expositi
on and analysis of Frege's insights in epistemology and psychology puts psy
chologists, particularly developmental psychologists, in his debt. Nonethel
ess, his views of Frege will undoubtedly be disputed by some philosophers (
such as Haack, 19), as Smith already makes clear. Psychologists may not be
satisfied by some of Smith's claims concerning Piaget as well, as will be e
vident in my comments.