What Is Structuralism? Piaget's Genetic Epistemology and the Varieties of Structuralist Thought

Abstract

This article will attempt to survey and interpret structuralism, or, as some would have it, "French Structuralism," an amorphous, multifaceted, and complex phenomenon, without a disciplinary boundary or any established authority to settle controversies concerning it. This interpretation will be based, alas, on the limited experience of one who can claim expertise neither in linguistics, psychology, nor anthropology, where structuralist thought has had its greatest impact. The essay will be divided into five parts. The first will suggest the rationale of the conscious, partially organized structuralist movement with its recognized masters and committed disciples, research centers and institutes, and niches in university curricula. The second will consider the need for a structuralist movement in economics. The third will examine those bodies of thought that have developed spontaneously and independently here and there over the spectrum of the disciplines sharing an analytic approach or outlook that can be identified as structuralist; that is, abstracting from the structuralist movement, the character of structuralist thought will be specified, with Jean Piaget's psychology taken as its prototype. The fourth part reviews and compares structuralist thought in anthropology, linguistics, the history and philosophy of