ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts covered in this book. The book illustrates some of the theoretical issues that have arisen in philosophical discussions of knowledge and necessity. It shows that problems of knowledge and necessity have been a central preoccupation in philosophical epistemology for two millennia. The book also shows that these problems are not merely of antique interest but continue to occupy a central place in philosophical discussion. It shows that Piaget's genetic epistemology addresses epistemological problems of knowledge and necessity by the express introduction of an empirical control. His argument is that there are empirical, and not merely rational, issues to confront when problems of the development of necessary knowledge arise. The book further argues that a minimally adequate theory of the development of necessary knowledge must be both empirically and rationally acceptable.
