Scientific Structuralism. Mathematics, Physics, and Biology in Piagetian Perspective

Piagetian structuralism, notably a genetic epistemological perspective on mathematics, physics and biology, represents a unique and fruitful articulation of the heterogeneous structuralist movement. After their initial success, mathematical structures, traced and investigated from different points of view, end up constituting didactic and research "paradigms" that can be used on several levels; in a similar way, physics-closely related to mathematics-initially considered its own "objects" to be endowed with structure: yet, while such structure was initially understood in a material sense, nowadays it is studied with a higher degree of abstraction (e.g. in an energetic, interactive, virtual sense). Biology has become (and remains) an a la page subject, but also presents an epistemological battle between orthodox mechanism and vitalism, between eternal substances and continuous transformations, that is, between fixed structures and dynamic structuring. These conclusions lead us to re-evaluate the up-to-dateness and perspectives of Piagetian structuralism, to project it beyond classical structuralism and, maybe, to turn it into an unusual and promising post-structuralist trend.