Alexander Luria and Jean Piaget: Partial Reconstruction of Their Cooperation

Abstract

In this paper the genesis of the cooperation between Alexander Luria and Jean Piaget is reconstructed on the basis of recently found correspondence and historical data. It is shown that their initial meeting at the famous Ninth International Congress of Psychology in New Haven, 1929, formed the beginning of a cordial and productive relationship which, however, was abruptly interrupted in the late 1930's. At the background of much of their cooperation was the monumental figure of Lev Vygotsky, whose work Luria attempted to promote in the West and who for Piaget, in a way, would probably become the most valuable interlocutor he never met.