Vestiges of Logical Positivism: Critiques of Stage Explanations

This article reviews the historical emergence and basic tenets of logical positivism, and demonstrates that a number of these positivistic tenets still exert a deeply hidden and deleterious influence on developmental psychology. The demonstration is primarily in terms of a case study concerning a critique of tests of Piagetian stage hypotheses. The analysis illustrates and demonstrates a number of important points concerning the vestigial …