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The Future of Formal Thought Research: The Study of Analogy and Metaphor

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Language and Operational Thought

Part of the book series: Topics in Cognitive Development ((TOPCOGDEV,volume 2))

Abstract

It is time to move research based upon Piaget’s stage of formal thought into new territory. Recent critics of this stage point out weaknesses in various aspects of the combinatorial system and the four-group (INRC) postulated as the structural foundation for a qualitatively different mode of thinking at the time of adolescence. Specifically, one camp in the old territory concentrates on the weaknesses in Piaget’s use of propositional logic (for example, Brainerd, 1975; Bynum, Thomas, & Weitz, 1972; Ennis, 1975a,b). Some of the confusion in this area may be attributed to misinterpretations of the aim of Piaget’s structuralism: to study children and adolescents not so much as logicians, but as scientists who invent and construct their own understandings (Falmagne, 1975; Stone, 1976).

But I reckon I got to light out for the Territory ahead of the rest....

—Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn

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  1. Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

    Jeanette McCarthy Gallagher

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  1. Jeanette McCarthy Gallagher
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  1. Research for Better Schools, Inc., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

    Barbara Z. Presseisen

  2. Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

    David Goldstein

  3. Medical College of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

    Marilyn H. Appel (Editor-in-chief) (Editor-in-chief)

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Gallagher, J.M. (1978). The Future of Formal Thought Research: The Study of Analogy and Metaphor. In: Presseisen, B.Z., Goldstein, D., Appel, M.H. (eds) Language and Operational Thought. Topics in Cognitive Development, vol 2. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-2538-3_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-2538-3_6

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