Children have real understanding only of that which they invent themselves, and each time that we try to teach them too quickly, we keep them from reinventing it themselves.
Jean PiagetRead
The main functions of intelligence, that of inventing solutions and that of verifying them, do not necessarily involve one another. The first partakes of imagination; the second alone is properly logical.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Intelligence involves both imaginative invention and logical verification, which are distinct processes.
In this quote, Jean Piaget emphasizes the dual nature of intelligence: the ability to generate creative solutions and the necessity of critically evaluating and verifying these solutions. He points out that while imagination allows for innovative thinking, logic is essential for determining the validity of those ideas, illustrating that creativity and reasoning operate independently yet are both vital to the cognitive process.
Themes
IntelligenceImaginationLogicCreativitySolutions
In practice
Example use cases
In a presentation about problem-solving techniques, you could say, 'As Jean Piaget noted, intelligence isn't just about logic, but also about imagination.'
More from Jean Piaget
All quotes →Logical activity is not the whole of intelligence. One can be intelligent without being particularly logical.
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Children's games constitute the most admirable social institutions. The game of marbles, for instance, as played by boys, contains an extremely complex system of rules - that is to say, a code of laws, a jurisprudence of its own.
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Everyone knows that at the age of 11-12, children have a marked impulse to form themselves into groups and that the respect paid to the rules and regulations of their play constitutes an important feature of this social life.
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Play is the work of childhood.
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The goal of education is not to increase the amount of knowledge but to create the possibilities for a child to invent and discover, to create men who are capable of doing new things.
Jean PiagetRead
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