Piaget, Vygotsky and young people's argumentation: Sociocognitive aspects and challenges of reasoning “together” and “alone”

Abstract

Educational and psychological research on argumentative interactions has identified several challenges in young people's argumentation, as well as early manifestations of some (hybrid) reasoning mechanisms that children and adolescents are able to put into service when necessary. The purpose of this short article/commentary is to inquire into some of these mechanisms, as presented in the articles published in the special issue “Interpersonal argument”, through: (a) framing them from a psychopedagogical perspective; and (b) questioning whether they represent genuine participation in argumentation dialogues or just some isolated manifestations of skills that may lead or not to such participation. It is argued that participation in genuine argumentation requires the sharing of a mutual dialogical goal among participants, and such sharing requires some degree of intersubjectivity, not available in the early years of life. It is also argued that group work is not a guarantee for having sophisticated argumentation among peers, as it requires a high degree of collaboration, which does not always and spontaneously emerge. Therefore, collaborative work may be considered more as a design principle rather than an outcome of engaging in interpersonal argument. Lastly, the challenge of arguing with a virtual rather than a physical other is also discussed.