Some 10 years ago, Leo Apostel presented an analysis of developments
taking place in genetic epistemology and artificial intelligence, and
re- marked that the two disciplines appeared to be converging, without
one dominating or assimilating the other. In his view, significant
formal and experimental progress would be required in the post-Piagetian
era: ge- netic epistemology would need to take into account developments
in artificial intelligence, while remaining an independent discipline at
the frontiers of biology, logic, and psychology. The work of David
Leiser and Christiane Gillieron, both psychol- ogists with a Genevan
training who are concerned by the procedural aspects of intelligence, is
an important contribution. Their studies, which open up new theoretical
perspectives, are carried out with metic- ulous attention to research
methodology. Going beyond merely ad- dressing criticisms about the
status of Piagetian operational structures, their work will help fill
the gap between genetic epistemology and cog- nitive science.