ABSTRACT
It would perhaps be too bold to speak of a sense of a Neuchâtel identity to evoke the origins of Jean Piaget’s body of work, because he always declared the universality of science. However, it was he who would often lay claim to his origins and the importance of one’s roots. In effect, the canton of Neuchâtel did not constitute a unique cultural entity with well-defined contours even though, in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, it was a region that was well distinguished from the others. Its history, for example, places it outside all known situations in Switzerland as well as in Europe. Neuchâtel had already been spared from wars, and its geographical placement made it a transitional place between France and the Swiss plateau, as well as between the Swiss Germans and the Swiss Romands (French speakers).
