Édouard Claparède (1873-1940), neurologist, psychologist, educator, and forerunner of Piagetian concepts

This article focuses on the work of the Swiss physician Édouard Claparède (1873-1940), who made significant contributions to basic and clinical neuroscience; comparative and developmental psychology; and, most notably, functional education, which he sought to ground in the principles of the experimental sciences. Claparède championed the value of evidence, rejecting metaphysics and the authority of dogma. Several concepts later introduced in ontogenetic and educational psychology by his pupil Jean Piaget (1896-1980) were inspired by Claparède's earlier writings. Much of this work took place at the Jean-Jacques Rousseau Institute, which was eventually incorporated into the University of Geneva. The ideas of Claparède and Piaget reshaped the relationship between psychology and education, and their theories on cognitive development continue to inform pedagogical innovation and instructional practice.