What contradictions? About Piaget, Vigotski and Marx

Abstract

The text discusses the problem of contradiction by examining the work of three thinkers: Piaget, Vigotski, and Marx. In Piaget, contradiction is synonymous with opposition, fitting within the framework of genetic epistemology. In Vigotski, however, contradiction is a dialectical category and a driving force that propels the world and energizes the individual, leading him to a new conception of development. Unlike Piaget, for Vigotski, development is not a linear and genetic process but a complex dialectical process. In this sense, Lucien Sève highlights Marx's influence on Vigotski's thought, emphasizing the shift made by the German thinker from idealist philosophy. He also identifies why Marxian thought is not a kind of universal devoid of psychological contributions, nor an abstract system of absolute truths in the traditional sense, but rather a theoretical framework with categorical determinations and connections that emerge from the very subject matter. Through an analysis of these three authors' texts, Sève provides highly original contributions on the convergences and divergences between them, addressing a contemporary topic that is still underexplored.