Abstract

The philosophical inquiry in Piaget's work was an attempt to explain both the universality and the fecundity of human reason. Such a challenge requires a way to investigate the diversification of human thought and its need for stability. These are the poles through which the construction of the concept of "equilibration" develops. In this essay speculative turning points and historical phases, with their philosophical debts, are dealt to show one of the most important steps in Piaget's epistemology: the transition from equilibrium to equilibration through the studies of "Centre International d'Epistémologie Génétique" between the years 50s and the 70s. From the logical and mathematical operations up to the the creative processes of innovation, the regulating process or "équilibration majorante" marks the key-mechanism of Piaget's epistemological reflection.