ABSTRACT
Both the name of Jean Piaget and some of the main features of his work are now so widely known that he has become something of a legend in his own lifetime. The sheer volume of his own writings is prodigious (365 titles are listed in a Festchrift which appeared in 1966 and the list is still growing). These have engendered an even more voluminous body of writings by critics and followers more or less concerned with Piaget's ideas (cf. Modgil, 1974), and this leaves out of account more incidental references. Yet it remains the case that Piaget is too often a cult figure, one who attracts either devoted admirers or determined critics, but whose work is treated as something apart from the main body of theory and research. This is particularly apparent in the recent edition of 'Carmichael's Manual of Child Psychology' (Mussen, 1970), where Piaget's theory is given a chapter of its own, distinct from those on learning, concept development, reasoning and language.
