ABSTRACT
I try to show in this chapter why the definition of philosophy proposed by Piaget in his famous little book, Insights and illusions of philosophy (Piaget, 1971b) seems to me to be still of interest today. This book created a considerable stir when it was first published in 1965, and it was at the centre that year of a debate at the Union Rationaliste in Paris in which Paul Ricoeur, among others, participated (Piaget, Ricoeur et al., 1966). Ricoeur tried to show that the definition proposed by Piaget implied more than what Piaget was prepared to admit with regard to philosophy. In the second edition of this book, Piaget added a postscript in which he examines the questions raised by Ricoeur: but if the two are compared, one has the impression that the central question was left open. In the first part of this chapter, I briefly describe the exchange of views between Piaget and Ricoeur, starting with Piaget’s definition of philosophy. I then recall the principal objection raised by Ricoeur to Piaget’s conception, and the reply Piaget gave in the postscript to the second edition of his book.
